


Path of the Jedi: The Mandalore Catalyst

by ThreeBulletNecklace



Series: Max Starfield [4]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Angst, Blow Jobs, Character Death, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Cunnilingus, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Fanservice, Fluff, Force Sex (Star Wars), Humor, Inappropriate Humor, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Jedi, Jedi Code (Star Wars), LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Female Character, LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Sex, Mandalore, Mandalorian, Mandalorian Culture, Porn With Plot, Prequel Era, Romance, Strap-Ons, Tags Are Hard, The Dark Side of the Force, The Force, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, amberfield, life is strange au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:54:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21824710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThreeBulletNecklace/pseuds/ThreeBulletNecklace
Summary: Months after she fell in love, stopped a psychotic Sith Lord and left the Jedi Order, Max Starfield is at peace, travelling the Galaxy with her partner: one Chloe Price. However, after coming back from a well-earned vacation, a catastrophic turn of events caused by a returning foe catapults her and Chloe back into peril, puts Max in the cross-hairs of the Jedi Council, and leads them to the darkest depths of one of the Galaxy's most infamous planets: Mandalore.
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price, Rachel Amber/Chloe Price
Series: Max Starfield [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1177856
Comments: 58
Kudos: 71





	1. Episode I - Haptic Feedback

**Author's Note:**

> Oh shit we're back.
> 
> I've been looking forward to getting this sequel going all year. Hopefully you have too. I'm gonna keep this short, as there's a ton of stuff I want to get to.
> 
> Thanks to R_Darkstorm, for being an awesome editor and helping out with certain bits of this chapter.

**Path of the Jedi:**

**The Mandalore Catalyst**

**Episode I**

**Haptic Feedback**

  
  
  
  


A vacation, Max Starfield decided, had been a most excellent idea. She sipped the tangy, fruity, liqueur-infused drink in her hand, swilling it around in her mouth for a second or two to appreciate the taste. The barmaid had described it as "The best thing you'll ever put in your mouth" - earning a snigger from Chloe - and Max was currently hard pressed to disagree. She also decided cocktails were now a favourite thing of hers. 

A decision like that would normally have caused Chloe to insist on a high-five, but the pilot had been missing for the last twenty standard minutes, not that Max was overly concerned or anything. Even so, she sat up and pushed her sun shades up the bridge of her nose a little, and took a quick scan of the beach for her errant lover. 

It didn't take long to find her. Chloe was sauntering up the gentle, sandy slope, stepping nimbly between various species of beach goers, all enjoying the heat of the tropical sun. A lackadaisical grin was spread across her face, and as she saw Max watching her, ran a hand through her damp blue hair, and put an extra bit of cant into the roll of her hips as she walked, obviously for Max's benefit. 

Max rolled her eyes. Chloe's flirting had been about as subtle as a sledgehammer throughout the entire vacation, especially when she had insisted on taking Max to pick out a swimsuit, which had led to a memorably frisky moment in the store changing room. Max still had no idea how they hadn't been kicked out. 

As Chloe approached Max's sun lounger, she swept her eyes up and down her body, taking in the pure white swimsuit - comprised of a two-piece connected by a multitude of straps, and the light sheen of sweat coating Max's abs. 

"Hello there." Chloe grinned. "Damn girl, you look like a snack right now."

"You saying you wanna eat me?" Max asked. 

"Already did that last night." Chloe's grin turned lascivious. "And the night before. And the night before  _ that,  _ and-" 

"Chloe!" Max hurriedly hushed her. "Keep that up and every guy on the beach is gonna try and drag us into a threesome if they hear us."

Chloe made a face like curdled blue milk. "Eww. No thanks. The only dick I want involved is the one I own."

"Well, if you play your cards right…" Max waggled her eyebrows.

Chloe stopped in her tracks. “Wait, are you serious? Because I thought you were-”

“Let’s see where the day takes us.” Max said nonchalantly, pretending to examine her nails. 

“You’re a cocktease, you know that, Starfield?”

Max simply winked.

“Wow.” Chloe laughed. “Kicking the whole Jedi thing to the curb really did wonders for your libido, huh?”

Before answering, Max stretched - arching her back to full extent and making sure she put an extra couple of little moans in there, just to ensure Chloe was paying attention - then rolled gracefully off the sun lounger and brought herself up until she was flush against Chloe. 

"You only have yourself to blame for that." She said, before gently nipping at Chloe's lower lip. 

"I… wow, yeah, guilty as charged." Chloe said, somewhat dumbstruck. 

Max giggled. "So where'd you disappear to anyway?" 

"Huh?" Chloe said, still in a Max-induced daze. "Oh, right. Yes." She said when she managed to snap herself out of it. "I've got a surprise for you."

"A surprise? What kind of surprise?" Max asked her, only a little bit suspicious. 

"Follow me and you'll find out." Chloe grinned, and offered Max her hand. 

Max took it, and Chloe began leading her through the crowded beach, heading along the shore, and past water-borne speeders, yachts and all manner of aquatic leisure craft. After several minutes, and no sign of slowing down, Max was fit to burst with curiosity. 

"C'mon Chloe, you gotta tell me where we're going." She said. 

"Patience." Chloe replied. "We're almost there, promise."

She led Max onto a lengthy pier, past several expensive looking private yachts, past some less expensive looking yachts, and then finally to some smaller, slightly rusted looking, definitely-not-expensive-at-all boats. 

"Ta-daa!" Chloe proclaimed. 

"Uh…" Max vocalised, looking supremely bemused. "I don't get it."

"Dude." Chloe incredulously, and gestured towards the closest boat. "I hired us a boat, Max."

"You hired a boat?" Max repeated. 

"Yup." Chloe beamed. 

"I gotta be honest, a boat was like, the last thing I expected." Max said. 

"Exactly." Chloe tapped her nose. "It's the last night of our vacation, and I had a small stash of credits saved up, so I just thought 'fuck it', you know? Just imagine, Max, you and me on the high seas, doing whatever the fuck we want and not giving a damn." She exclaimed excitedly. 

"Plus," Chloe continued, "I rented it for the entire night as well, so we'd be very, very  _ alone _ , know what I'm sayin'?"

Max narrowed her eyes. "... You just wanted us to fuck on a boat didn't you?" 

"Okay that may have also been part of my thought process." Chloe immediately capitulated. 

"Well," Max grinned again, "If we're gonna be out on the seas for a night, we definitely should engage in some piracy."

Chloe paused, confusion flashing over her face. "Wait, piracy?" 

"I mean, pirates usually plunder some booty." Max said, her grin turning mischievous. "Might as well be mine."

"Oh!" Chloe said in understanding. " _ Oh." _

"So, are we ready to cast off,  _ Captain _ ?" Max said, putting particular emphasis on the last word. 

Chloe visibly shuddered in desire. "Fuck yes we are."

"Excellent." Max said. She kissed Chloe on the cheek, and hopped onto the boat. 

"Oh hey, you packed enough of our things for a night away." Max said as she entered the small, but cozy, cabin on the lower deck. "I'm actually impressed at how organised you've been with this whole thing."

"Dude, I'm hella organised." Chloe protested as she followed Max onto the boat. 

Max shot her a look. 

"You're lucky I love you." Chloe said in a mock-threatening tone. "Otherwise I might have taken offense to that."

"Oh I'm sure you can forgive me." Max said as she reclined on the just-about-two-people-wide bunk, making sure to put herself on full display. She smirked when Chloe's gaze instantly zeroed in on her abs, knowing she'd won. 

Chloe pointed at her, opened her mouth to rebuke the ex-Jedi, but then shut it again when no words were forthcoming. 

"A little distracted there?" Max teased. 

"Uh, yeah!" Chloe said. "You're super hot, and wearing a bikini, and being way too sexy. Of course I'm distracted."

"I'm sure you'll think of a way to get me back later." Max flirted. "In fact, I'm counting on it."

"Challenge accepted." Chloe said. "But, uh, we should probably go head out to sea until no one's gonna hear us. 'Cos I'm gonna make you  _ scream." _

* * *

"You know, this was actually a great idea." Max said. She was lying on her front on a padded seating section of the stern, trailing her fingers through crystalline waters shot through with a vibrant pastel orange streak, courtesy of the setting sun. 

"I do have them occasionally." Chloe remarked from her position at the controls. 

"Well, this was definitely one of your best." Max said. "It's so… quiet out here." She observed. 

The two of them had made their way a little further out to sea: far enough to have almost total privacy, but not far enough so that they lost sight of the land. Out there, with waves lapping gently at the sides of the boat and no other beings in sight, Max had never felt so at peace. 

"Honestly, I've never been so relaxed." Max gave voice to her thoughts. 

"Me too." Chloe echoed. She stepped away from the controls and descended a small set of steps in order to join Max in the seating area. She sat down next to the ex-Jedi, and ran her natural hand gently up the bare skin of Max's back. 

Max shivered slightly under her touch, smiling at the show of affection. " _ Mm. _ " She lightly moaned when Chloe applied more pressure, turning the caress into more of a back-rub.

"That's  _ definitely  _ playing your cards right." She said huskily. 

"Yeah?" 

"Yeah."

Max rolled over and took Chloe's hand, pulling her in for a kiss. It started off slow and languid, with Max seemingly content to just enjoy how soft, warm and inviting Chloe's lips were, but slowly grew in intensity when Chloe let the fingers of her mechanical hand tip-tap their way down Max's waist, briefly paused on the curve of her hip, and finally came to rest cupping Max's ass. 

Taking that as an invitation, Max pulled Chloe down on top of her, sliding her own hands down the back of Chloe's shorts and wedging a leg between her thighs. Chloe moaned into the kiss, unable to keep herself from grinding on Max's thigh. 

Max had absolutely no doubt Chloe was already wet. 

"Wanna move this to the bed?" Max breathed. 

"Fuck yes I do." Chloe said, but pulled away - somewhat reluctantly - from Max's embrace, and stood up. "But first, I've got another surprise."

"Another one?" Max asked, a little exasperatedly. 

"Yeah, but it's totally gonna be worth it, you'll see." Chloe smiled, knowing Max could never resist when she did. Then, she disappeared into the lower deck. 

While she waited, Max curiously wondered what Chloe would want to interrupt foreplay for. The only other time Max could remember had been when Chloe had imbibed a little too much of the alcohol-laced rain on Iri’then, and had run off to throw up in the middle of taking Max’s shirt off. Max smiled to herself; for someone with much more drinking experience than herself, Chloe was surprisingly lightweight.

She looked out at the horizon, appreciating the view as the last sliver of the sun appeared to vanish under the sea. A cool breeze blew across the surface of the gentle waves, creating small white caps on the crests of the undulating water. It also made Max shiver. She drew her arms around herself and stood up, wishing Chloe had at least left her a blanket or something to stave off the steadily cooling evening air. 

“Are you almost done?” She called down into the cabin. 

"Almost!" Came the reply. Then, after a few seconds, Chloe followed up with "No peeking!" 

"I'm way more concerned with freezing my tits off right now!" Max countered. "This surprise better be worth it."

"Calm your tits, Max. Literally." Chloe yelled back. "And it's totally worth it, trust me."

_ “Right.”  _ Max replied, summoning as much sarcasm as she could muster.

If Chloe had heard her, she didn’t bother with a retort.

“Alright, I’m ready!” She informed Max after another few moments.

“Finally.” Max muttered under her breath, and descended the narrow stairs into the cabin.

It appeared to be empty: the bed was unoccupied, but a curtain had been conspicuously drawn across the forward section of the cabin. Max didn’t even need to use the Force to know Chloe was hiding behind it.

“Oh no.” Max said in a monotone. “My girlfriend has clearly vanished. Wherever could she have gone?”

“Fuck you, Starfield.” Chloe’s voice emanated from behind the curtain.

“Isn’t that why you got the boat?” Max shot back. “You’re doing a pretty bad job of it so far.”

“You’re about to eat your words, Max.” Said the curtain confidently.

“Am I?”

“Yup.” Chloe said, and threw back the curtain.

Max’s jaw dropped.  _ “Oh.”  _ She said.

Chloe had donned a bikini. Though it wasn’t just a bikini, no, this was far too exotic, and designed with maximum tantalisation in mind. A swirling gold pattern looped its way gracefully across the middle of the cups, accentuating and drawing attention to the way Chloe's breasts were lifted - for greatest possible cleavage, of course. 

"Ta-daa!" Chloe grinned triumphantly, and performed a twirl, with the intention of showing off the bikini - and herself - in full. 

As she did so, Max managed to unglue her eyes enough from the generous amount of cleavage on display to notice the bottom half. A pair of… clasps? Panties? - Max couldn't decide which - sat dangerously low on Chloe's hips, holding two purple veils between her legs. As Chloe spun, the veils twisted naturally with her momentum, more than enough to let Max know her partner definitely did not have anything on underneath.

Max swallowed, her throat suddenly dry, making her exceedingly thirsty in multiple senses of the word. 

"So, what do you think?" Chloe smirked, knowing full well it was having the exact effect she wanted.

Max's eyebrows climbed towards her hairline. "Do you even need to ask?" 

"No, but I like to hear you say it." Chloe smirked. 

"See, I know you desperately want me to say ' _ oh Chloe, please come over here and fuck me,'"  _ Max said, "But that would be letting you win. And I'm not gonna let that happen when I can do  _ this _ ."

Using the Force, Max gently but firmly pulled Chloe across the cabin and over to the bed. Chloe yelped at the sudden movement; she still wasn't used to Max controlling her so entirely. 

A few inches short of the bed, Max released her hold on the pilot. Chloe yelped again and stumbled forward under her own momentum, ending up crashing down on top of Max, who - delightedly - received a face full of Chloe's tits. 

_ "Nice."  _ Max said, only slightly muffled. 

"Okay now you just ruined me being all sexy for you." Chloe pouted unconvincingly. 

"Don't care. Boobs." Max replied, still nestled between Chloe's breasts. 

"Dude."

"Okay, okay." Max reluctantly surfaced. "Would this make it up to you?" She nodded downwards, where her swimsuit was undoing itself. 

"Mm, maybe." Chloe said, though she was obviously watching the process with rapt attention. "I do love it when you do that."

"I know." Max grinned. The process of undoing the various straps finished, and the swimsuit gracefully slithered off her lithe frame, leaving her laid out enticingly for Chloe's eager attention, and extremely nude. 

Chloe made a small, strangled noise deep in her throat. 

"Oh, is it working? How about if I do this?" Max trailed her right hand down her stomach, past her navel, all the way through the small patch of hair adorning her pubis and finally coming to rest between glistening outer lips, where she lazily began to rub circles around her clit. 

Chloe bit her lip, almost drawing blood. 

"See?" Max moaned. "You can't -  _ uhh -  _ help it. You love it when I  _ \- mm -  _ touch myself for you."

"Fuck, yes I do." Chloe breathed. 

"Then maybe," Max coaxed, her voice turning breathier with every syllable, "You should get your 'friend' while I'm this wet and willing."

Chloe didn't need to be told twice. Her eyes went as wide as dinner plates, and she scrambled off of Max, hurriedly located a bag filled with various clothes, and began rooting through it.

Max watched in amusement. Seeing Chloe excited - in multiple ways - about something was a facet of their relationship she would always treasure. 

It only took Chloe a few seconds to find the strap-on. "Aha!" She exclaimed, extricated it from its temporary prison in the midst of a bunch of her underwear, and held it up for Max to see. 

It was surprisingly basic: about nine inches long, with a thinner, tapered end taking up four of those inches, and a thicker, traditionally phallus-shaped shaft and head taking up the other five. The entire thing was covered in purple synth skin, with a barely visible sensor strip lining the underside of the tapered end. 

"Huh." Max said. "That looks… pretty simple."

"Oh yeah." Chloe grinned. "Dicks are real simple. Trust me." She twirled it in her mechanical hand. 

"Here," She said, "Have a feel." With that, she threw the sex toy over to Max. 

Max reached out for it, summoning it to her palm with the Force. However, when it hit, a pulse ran through her, pulling her entire being into the river of energy that was the living Force. She barely had any time to brace herself before a vision hit her. 

* * *

_ Chloe's head bobs up and down. Her lips are wrapped around the strap-on’s thick head, and her tongue flicks skillfully against the underside of the spongy, fleshy ridge at the bottom of the bell-shaped curve every time her mouth rises up the shaft. _

_ A choked moan reaches her ears, and a pair of hips buck upwards unexpectedly, forcing the cock further into her mouth. She looks up from between her lover’s legs, pleased to see her head is thrown back in pleasure, her chest rising and falling sharply as she gasps in mounting ecstasy. _

_ “Chloe, fuck. Keep going.” Rachel moans. She tangles a fist into Chloe’s hair, taking control of the pace and fucking Chloe’s mouth as fast as she dares without choking the pilot.  _

_ “That’s it.” Rachel praises her. “You’re so fucking good. Take it all in like a good little smuggler whore.” _

_ Chloe hums in appreciation, sending vibrations down the shaft and causing Rachel to increase her pace even further.  _

_ Her hips snap upwards, slamming the purple phallus into the back of Chloe’s throat. _

_ “Use your hand.” Rachel orders. “I’m getting so fucking close…” _

_ Chloe obeys and wraps a hand around the shaft, pumping vigorously even as she tries to match the fervent pace with her mouth and tongue. _

_ “Yesss.” Rachel hisses, tightening her grip on Chloe’s hair. “So close… make me come like the slut you are.” _

_ Chloe moans onto the shaft again, feeling the telltale vibrations of Rachel’s imminent orgasm. _

_ “Shit. Gonna come!” Rachel declares. A second later, the cock pulses, and a hot splash of liquid bursts from the tip, rushing down Chloe’s throat in a small torrent. “Fuck!” Rachel screams out her release, moving her hips in small, staccato thrusts into her lover’s mouth. _

_ Chloe drinks as much of Rachel’s release up as she can, but after several bursts of liquid, is forced to pull off the cock due to sheer lack of breath. _

_ Rachel, however, it seems isn’t done. She grabs the shaft in her own hand and pumps furiously, perhaps aiming to extend her orgasm or even go for a second. Either way, the result is another explosive burst of her juices that splashes across Chloe’s face, neck, collarbone and the tops of her breasts. _

_ "Attagirl." Rachel smiles, sliding her thumb across Chloe's soaked chin.  _

* * *

Max reeled back, blinking rapidly. The Force vision had been explosively intense, making her return to the physical world all the more disorienting. 

"Are you okay?" Chloe asked, concerned. "You went all… weird for a second, there."

Max nodded, even though her heart was thudding in her chest. "I. I think so." She said, trying to process the fact that she had witnessed such an intimate moment between Chloe and Rachel. 

"Freaky Force shit again?" Chloe said. 

"Yeah." There was no point in denying it, Chloe, somehow, always knew. 

"What did you see? No one's gonna try and imminently kill us, are they?" Chloe said, concerned 

"No…" Max began, wondering how best to explain she had just seen her girlfriend aggressively blowing her previous partner - in excruciating detail, no less - or even if she  _ should  _ mention it. 

"Max, come on. I know that face." Chloe tried to be encouraging. "I know something bothered you, and you can tell me."

"I saw…" Max started, and immediately hesitated. "I saw you." She began again. "And I - I saw Rachel."

"You saw Rachel?" Chloe perked up. 

Max nodded. "As clearly as I see you now."

"What was she doing?" 

Max grimaced. Time to bite the blaster bolt. "You two were, uh. How do I put this?" 

"C'mon, Max, just tell me."

"I don't - it's kind of awkward to just  _ say _ ." Max said, not dilly-dallying  _ at all _ . 

"How could it be awkward? Spit it out, Starfield."

"You made her come in your face with the space dick!" Max blurted out. 

"Oh." Chloe said in surprise.  _ "Oh."  _ She said again after a few second's silence. "You saw us doing that?" 

Max nodded, her cheeks burning redder than a Sith's lightsaber. 

"Huh. I think I might know the time you're talking about." Chloe said, sounding remarkably nonchalant. "Did she call me a slut?" 

Max nodded again. 

"Yeah, I know exactly what you saw." Chloe grinned. "Though, I might need a little  _ reminding. _ " She said seductively, moving back onto the bed and crawling over a still-extremely-perturbed Max. 

"Reminding?" Max echoed. 

"Yeah." Chloe said, dragging the thinner end of the strap-on down through Max's lower lips to tease at her entrance. "Remind me, Max."

"You - you were -" Max tried to speak, but the combination of the vision's still-lingering effects, and the idea of Chloe about to put that thing  _ inside  _ her was just too much, causing her brain to melt into soup before a coherent sentence could form. 

"Oh no, poor Max is lost for words." Chloe teased her. "Does Max want some  _ help _ ?" She emphasised the last word with another stroke of the sensor end through Max's labia, making the implications abundantly clear. 

Max took a breath, and nodded. 

Chloe gently pushed it in, slowly enough for Max to be comfortable acclimating to it. 

Max gasped. Even without the sensor strip active, it was an entirely different sensation to Chloe's fingers. It was harder, obviously less flexible, and caused a very different kind of stretch. 

"That's… it feels so weird." Max finally found her words. 

Chloe chuckled. "Heh, wait until we get to putting the actual dick inside you… preferably with me on the other end, but yeah, gonna feel weird as fuck at first."

She pushed the last inch in, causing Max's hips to hitch slightly. "It's about to feel a hell of a lot weirder. You ready?" 

"Do it."

Chloe pressed a switch, hidden under a section of the synth skin that could be slightly depressed. The sensor strip, positioned flush against Max's back walls, activated. . 

For Max, it was like her clit had suddenly been extended tenfold, almost like possessing an entirely new appendage. It was a novel sensation, practically indescribable feeling, to say the least. 

"Okay that really  _ is  _ fucking weird." She declared. "I can  _ feel  _ it."

"Yep." Chloe grinned. 

Max reached out and, after hesitating for a moment, gave the tip a poke. 

"Ah!" She exclaimed. "It's sensitive!" She jerked her hand back, causing the entire thing to wobble slightly. 

While Chloe watched - decidedly entertained - Max reached out again and slowly rested her finger on the tip. She explored slightly, rubbing it back and forth, growing accustomed to the sensation. "It's sensitive, but not as much as my clit." She observed. 

"Well, yeah." Chloe agreed. "Dicks have much more spaced out nerve endings. Plus, this isn't even a real dick."

"Makes sense." Max said. 

"Though I do believe," Chloe continued, and gently pushed Max back down onto the bed, "That you were gonna remind me what I was doing to Rachel."

"Oh." Max said. "Right. You were. Um."

"Was I using my mouth?" Chloe lowered her eyelids, gazing sultrily up at Max. 

Max nodded a third time, her heart rate increasing once more. 

Chloe grasped the shaft in her hand. Max barely stopped herself from jumping. 

"Was it something like  _ this?"  _ Chloe purred, and in one smooth motion, took the head into her mouth. 

Max gasped. She hadn't expected Chloe's mouth to be so  _ warm _ . Or so soft. 

" _ Mmm." _ Chloe hummed around the cock, making Max bite her lip. "Something tells me you like it." She said, momentarily coming off of it before taking it back between her lips.

This time, Max was forced to bite her hand. 

Chloe noticed of course, and began moving her head, dragging her lips up and down the sensory strap-on in a motion smoother than silk. 

Max groaned deep in her throat and let herself fall back onto the bed. She shut her eyes, content to let Chloe see to her ministrations. 

"Force, you're fucking good at this." She breathed. 

Chloe released the head with a small pop. "You're damn right I am." 

“Chloe!” Max whined at the sudden lack of contact.

The pilot grinned. “It’s gonna be so easy to tease you with this.” She remarked, and slowly stroked the shaft with her natural hand.

“ _ Mm!” _ Max continued to whine, already desperately missing the warmth of Chloe’s mouth. 

Chloe chuckled softly, and took the head back between her lips. Max groaned, forcing herself to stop from bucking her hips upwards. Instead, she settled for working her hands into Chloe’s hair and caressing her scalp, trying to show with touch just how much she appreciated what Chloe was doing to her.

Chloe hummed in acknowledgement, once again causing vibrations to ripple down the shaft. This time, Max couldn’t help it, her hips snapped forwards, pushing the cock further into Chloe’s mouth.

If Chloe was surprised by the abruptness, she didn’t show it. Instead, she doubled down, taking the entire thing down her throat, right to the base.

“ _ Fuck,  _ Chloe!” Max hissed. 

Chloe managed to hold it for a few seconds before she had to come up for air, coughing and spluttering. “Sorry.” She said. “Been a while since I’ve done that.” 

“It’s okay.” Max gasped. “That was weird, but pretty amazing.” 

“Speaking of amazing.” Chloe grinned. “How about we try something new?”

Max glanced downwards, where Chloe was stroking up and down at a luxuriously slow pace. “I’d say we’re definitely already doing that.”

"Yeah but, like.  _ New _ new." 

"New new?" 

"Yeah." Chloe grinned like a lothcat. 

Max raised her eyebrows. Tilted her head to the side. "Can it get any newer?" 

"Oh my sweet summer child." Chloe bit her lip in a half-smirk. "You have no idea. Just relax and let Captain Chloe operate the joystick."

"Did you really have to- _fuck me!"_ Max interrupted herself. 

It was an appropriate response, as Chloe had surreptitiously activated the vibration function in her mechanical hand and began stroking with vigorous intent. 

Max fell back onto the bed again, swiftly turning into a shuddering mess as Chloe's strokes grew faster and firmer. In no time at all, she was enthusiastically rolling her hips in time with Chloe's hand. 

"Max like?" Chloe asked, even though she was sure she already knew the answer. 

Max keened in response, her movements becoming more and more erratic. 

"Thought so." Smugness in the form of Chloe said. She gripped a little harder, pumping the synth-cock in short, hard bursts, making sure to catch the underside of the head's ridge with the edge of her index finger, as she was well aware that area was particularly sensitive to stimulus. 

Judging from the way Max screwed her eyes shut and her mouth formed a perfect "O", she had judged it right. 

"Mmm." Chloe hummed to herself, and using the thumb of her natural hand, swiped it over the slit to collect the clear liquid that had begun to bead there, watching Max's reaction intently as she used it to lubricate the head. 

Then, when she judged Max's expressions were at their most intent, she leaned down and took it back into her mouth. 

"Chloe!" A sharp cry left Max's throat. The dual effect of the heat of Chloe's mouth and lips, and the vibration coursing through her hand and into the synth-cock was proving to be a deadly combination. 

The movement of her hips became wild, uncontrolled and a challenge for Chloe to follow as Max hurtled like an out of control freighter towards an imminent orgasm. 

"I'm…!" Max managed to choke out. 

Correctly guessing what Max was conveying, Chloe sped up, stroking the shaft as fast as she could and flicking her tongue against the head. Within seconds, Chloe could feel Max's hips and thighs begin to vibrate in a very particular way, signalling she was only moments away from coming. 

"No!" Max cried, much to Chloe's surprise and confusion. "Kiss me!" She commanded. 

Chloe didn't need to be told twice. She surged upwards to lie on top of Max, and slammed her lips into her lover's hard enough to leave a bruise, while still pumping the synth-cock as hard as she could.

Only seconds later, Max screamed into the kiss, bucked her hips violently into Chloe's grasp, and clenched her abdominal muscles involuntarily as her orgasm hit, sweeping over her like a blast wave. 

A burst of clear fluid exploded outwards from the head, spurting out in hot jets as the synth-cock absorbed Max's internal release and fed it through the shaft. It immediately coated Max's lower stomach, and seeing as Chloe was still on top of her, the underside of the pilot's breasts. 

" _ Fuck."  _ Max breathed into the kiss, her hips still twitching as Chloe's pace slowed drastically. 

She looked down at the purple phallus, watching as a couple of streams dribbled out of the tip and down onto Chloe's mechanical hand. "That was…" 

"I know." Chloe smiled. 

"Is it always this… messy?" Max nodded down at the abundance of fluid splattered across both their bodies. 

"I mean, you were already a hell of a squirter." Chloe shrugged. "Why should it be different if I'm making you cum by jerking you off instead of eating you out?" 

"Chloe!" Max said, embarrassed. 

"What? It's the truth!" Chloe protested. 

"Yeah but, do you have to be so…?" Max waved her arms in a nondescript fashion. "... You, about it?" 

"Hey, I just made you cum like, hella hard, dude."

"True." Max agreed. It was a fair point. 

"Plus, we haven't even gotten to the main event yet." Chloe said, the lascivious grin back on her face. 

"There's a main event?" Max asked. 

"Uh, yeah. I'm gonna fuck you." Chloe said, her tone clearly indicating Max should have expected it. 

"But you just made me cum."

"Dude, just because we're using a dick here doesn't mean it's a one-and-done deal. You're a chick and not some boring straight human male, and thus are capable of multiple orgasms, you dig?" 

"Oh yeah." Max said. "Though if we're gonna keep going, let me clean up first."

"Clean up?" 

In response, Max waved a hand. The various droplets and mini-puddles of her release rose off her and Chloe's bodies and into the air, and with a flick of her wrist, sent themselves hurtling out onto the deck, over the side and into the sea. 

"Show off." Chloe stated. 

Max winked at her. 

"Now," Chloe leaned back, affording Max a generous view of her still-bikini-clad body. "Are you ready for me, Starfield?" She moved the front-facing veil aside, reminding Max she wasn't wearing anything underneath. 

"Because I'm about to blow your mind."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy that was a lot of fanservice wasn't it? If you enjoyed that, I have good news: next chapter has even more of it, as well as some actual plot. Though honestly, the first two chapters are frontloaded with fanservice because the story goes pretty dark pretty quickly. 
> 
> If I keep writing at the pace I'm currently going, the next chapter might even be out before the end of the year. I hope. Don't quote me on that. Anyway, I hope you all have an awesome holiday period, and go see The Rise of Skywalker (I know I'm hella hyped!). See you next time. MTFBHWY.


	2. Episode II - This Is Where The Fun Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TheSenateLaughing.gif

**Episode II**

**This Is Where The Fun Begins**

"Wait." Max said as Chloe was about to position herself over Max's hips - and the synth-cock jutting straight up into the air. "Just like that? You don't need me to, uh, do anything?" 

Chloe frowned for a second before she caught on. "Oh! No, dude. Trust me, I'm good." She reached down and dragged a finger through her outer lips. It came away glistening from tip to base. 

"See?" Chloe said. 

"Point taken." 

"No, that's my job." Chloe joked. 

"Dude."

"Okay, okay." Chloe relented. "You ready, for real?" 

Max clasped her hands around Chloe's waist. "For you, always."

Chloe smiled down at her and gave the synth-cock a slow pump. Max groaned pleasurably, gently rolling her hips. 

"Have I told you how much I love you?" Chloe said, repeating the now-regular phrase. 

"No, but I could stand to hear it a little more." Max completed the routine with a grin. 

"How about I show you?" Chloe said huskily. She positioned herself above the head, guided it through her lips a couple of times - drawing a pleasurable hiss from Max - and then inch by agonisingly slow inch, sank down onto the cock. 

Even before the thick head pushed past the ring of muscle at Chloe's entrance, Max was moaning. Chloe was  _ incredibly  _ tight, more than she would have thought possible. 

"Oh  _ fuck."  _ She groaned as Chloe sank further, taking the shaft fully inside her. "You feel so fucking good." She said when she had bottomed out inside Chloe. 

"I know." Chloe breathed. It had been a while since she had taken the synth-cock inside her, necessitating a moment to readjust to the stretch it caused her to feel. But after a moment, and an experimental roll of her hips that made Max gasp, she remembered just how much she liked the sensation - and how much she had enjoyed Rachel using it on her. 

"It's so warm." Max observed. "And tight." 

It was true. Chloe's inner walls were squeezing her from every angle possible. 

"You're damn right." Chloe said, her voice low. "I've got fucking excellent kegel muscles."

"Your what muscles?" Max said, confused. 

In response, Chloe deliberately squeezed said kegel muscles. 

_ "Oh."  _ Max said. 

Chloe did it again. This time, Max had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from screaming out. 

"Hey, I think she likes it." Chloe said gleefully, starting to move her hips. 

“Of course I like it.” Max tried to come off as sassy, but given that her voice was audibly shaking, this attempt immediately failed.

“Having some trouble there?” Chloe teased.

“If I’m -  _ hn _ \- having trouble…” Max gasped. “It’s your fault.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right about that.” Chloe said, and drove her hips forwards.

This time, Max couldn’t hold back. She cried out Chloe’s name and thrust upwards, driving herself further into her lover.

Chloe threw back her head and moaned, moving in earnest now. 

Max watched, completely enraptured by the movement of Chloe's body: how her hips rolled in an elegant figure of eight, how the muscles of her stomach flexed and clenched with every movement, how her chest rose and fell as her breathing quickened after every forward thrust. 

The sight was so alluring Max completely forgot that she was supposedly an active participant in their lovemaking. 

Chloe did not. 

"You gonna -  _ hnn _ \- move anytime soon?" Chloe gasped.

"Huh?" Max said, now staring at the beads of sweat forming in the valley of Chloe's breasts, just above the line of the brassiere. 

In response, Chloe stopped moving, drawing a whine of protest from the ex-Jedi. "Dude, I'm doing all the work here." She leaned down, hovering a couple of inches above Max's face. Of course, Max's gaze immediately zeroed in on the generous amount of cleavage on display. 

"Hey, eyes up here." Chloe said, pushing Max's chin up with a mechanical index finger. "Now," She said, staring intensely into Max's eyes, "I want you to fuck me _. _ " She lifted herself up, so only the head of the synth-cock remained inside her, to illustrate her point. 

Max mewled, and tried to pull Chloe back down, only for the pilot to resist. 

"No." Chloe insisted. "I said:  _ fuck. Me." _

Max obeyed. She placed her hands on Chloe's hips, bent her legs, and thrust upwards, burying the shaft back inside her lover. 

The change in Chloe's expression was something Max would never forget. Her brows knitted together and her mouth dropped open, from which a strangled cry escaped. 

For Max, seeing Chloe like that was even more erotic than the sensation of plunging her cock in, right to the hilt. 

" _ Max!"  _ Chloe moaned. "Do it again!" 

She did, drawing a hiss out of Chloe when their hips met. 

After that, it was absurdly easy for Max to fall into a regular rhythm. It helped that Chloe almost immediately met her halfway, despite her claims of just wanting to be fucked; it was only after a few pumps that she began driving her hips down to meet Max's thrusts. 

Chloe groaned low in her throat, ecstatic at the feeling of being filled so completely by Max, over and over again. 

"Keep… going." She panted. "Make me yours."

"You already are." Max assured her. "You'll always be mine."

Chloe leaned down and brushed Max's ear with her lips. "You're… damn… right." She breathed in time with Max's thrusts, and gently nipped at Max's earlobe. 

Max made a strangled noise somewhere between a moan and a growl, half because of her earlobe being a particularly effective weak spot of hers - something Chloe  _ always  _ took advantage of - and half because Chloe leaning forward had afforded a subtle but new angle, allowing her total control over how much of the synth-cock she could thrust into Chloe. 

Naturally, she immediately chose to bury herself right to the base. Chloe gasped - Max's thrusts were steadily becoming more vigorous - and spread her legs a little more, allowing for even deeper penetration. 

"Fuck!" Max growled. She wrapped her arms around Chloe's back, pinning her in place, and doubled the pace of her thrusts. Over and over again, their hips met with the wet smack of flesh against flesh - a sound that became progressively wetter as the two women took each other. 

"That's… it!" Chloe panted, feeling her orgasm finally approaching. "Keep fucking me like that. I'm getting so close…" She whined, rapidly becoming more and more desperate. Her entire being now revolved around her burning need for release, and the white-hot pleasure Max was gifting her as she pounded her cock into the writhing blue-haired pilot: all that mattered in the universe was Max making her come, and making her come  _ now.  _

_ "FUCK!"  _ Chloe screamed, half in pleasure, half in frustration. Even with Max giving her literal all, it wasn't quite enough, and the sweet relief her body was craving remained tantalisingly just out of reach.

Chloe rose back up to a sitting position and bore down with her hips as hard as she could, riding Max's cock with sharp, uncontrolled jerks, unwilling to give up. As a last resort, she turned to her vibrating hand, and began rubbing her clit frantically. 

"Chloe." Max's voice broke through the sea of unchecked desire flooding her brain. 

She felt Max take her organic hand. 

"Let go." Max said. 

It was enough. 

Chloe screamed - so loud her voice broke and Max's ears rang in protest - and came explosively. 

A gush of fluid burst from within her at the same time as her inner walls squeezed shut, forcing the synth-cock violently out of her, while her release instantly soaked Max's crotch and half her abdomen. 

Chloe found it impossible to tell how long her orgasm lasted: it was too intense, too all-consuming. She hardly even noticed her scream turn to an exhausted wail and her legs give out from underneath her. She toppled backwards, landing on the mattress with a loud  _ whumpf _ and feeling like she had just run a race against a champion fathier. 

However, she barely had a few seconds to recover before Max - still gripped with ravenous desire for Chloe and clearly not satisfied yet - flipped Chloe onto her front with the Force, pulled her ass into the air, positioned herself behind Chloe and guided her cock back inside with one smooth stroke. 

Chloe almost cried in pleasure. She was still sensitive from her orgasm and Max was obviously impatient to achieve a second one of her own, as she gripped Chloe's waist with two firm hands and began vigorously pumping the synth-cock into her lover immediately. 

It was so intense Chloe couldn't even think, let alone give voice to how much she was loving being taken by Max so completely. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her mouth fell open in orgasmic stupor. She didn't even care how hard Max was pounding her into the mattress. All she cared about was how deep Max filled her with every slap of the ex-Jedi's hips against hers, and the guttural moans escaping from between Max's clenched teeth as she neared her climax. 

Not even the span of a thought later, Max let out a cracked gasp, and her grip on Chloe's waist tightened severely as she slammed her cock into Chloe's sex one final time. 

Chloe felt a hot splash of liquid against her walls, followed by several continuous spurts as Max came inside her. What she didn't expect was the flood of Max's release triggering a second orgasm - albeit it a much weaker one than her first. She moaned weakly into the bed, even as her legs shuddered uncontrollably and her sex clamped down on the synth-cock, which was still pumping the aftershocks of Max's climax into her. 

When her orgasm finally wound down, Max groaned in exhaustion and collapsed on top of Chloe, forcing her down onto the bed. They stayed like that for a while, neither woman possessing the energy - or inclination - to move. Within a minute, the only sounds audible in the cabin were their ragged breaths, and the gentle lap of the occasional wave against the side of the boat. 

Eventually, however, the quickly cooling sweat from both their bodies turned into an uncomfortably clammy coating, and the pleasant stretch and sense of fullness the synth-cock had given Chloe were swiftly being overcome by over-sensitivity and a deep seated soreness. 

"Max." Chloe muttered. "Can you pull out?"

"Huh?" Max said, still in a daze. 

"Pull out. It kinda hurts."

"Oh!" Max finally caught on. She moved back into a kneeling position, and as gently as possible, removed herself from Chloe. 

_ "Ow-ow-ow." _ Chloe hissed from behind clenched teeth as Max withdrew. 

"Are you okay? I didn't mean to hurt you." Max said, sounding concerned. 

"I'm good." Chloe winced a little. "It's just been a while since someone fucked me like that, and microtears are real, dude."

"Oh." Max said, evidently feeling guilty. 

"Hey, no, don't do that." Chloe quickly reassured her. "That was some of the best sex I've ever had in my fucking life."

"Really?" Max perked up. 

"Of course! Dude, I'm pretty sure my eyes rolled back into my head when you were fucking me from behind like that."

"It was pretty good on my end, too." Max grinned. 

"Hah!" Chloe snorted. "' _ On your end.'"  _ She quoted. 

"Huh?" 

"Think about it."

"Oh my god." Max rolled her eyes. 

* * *

"So, out of ten, how was your first sensory strap-on experience?" Chloe asked. 

The two of them, having changed back into regular clothing Chloe had packed into the overnight bag, were huddled together under a blanket, lying on top of the mattress they had dragged out onto the deck. 

"Hmm." Max pretended to ponder before answering. She swung a leg over Chloe's waist and the tops of her thighs, snuggling into the nape of the pilot's neck. 

"Eleven." She answered. 

"That's cheating." Chloe chuckled. "Only scoundrels cheat."

Max shrugged. "If I'm a scoundrel, it's because of you."

"Fair."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, content to simply lie and enjoy each other's warmth, gazing up at the starlit sky. 

"This is nice." Max observed. 

"Yeah." Chloe agreed. She shifted slightly, and winced when her legs and hips twinged with the fading remnants of lactic acid. "Though I'm gonna feel like I had one hell of a workout come the morning."

Max raised her head in order to give Chloe a wry look. "I'd be sympathetic but my abs are killing me. Thrusting like that for so long was way more effort than I thought it would be."

"I hear that. Rachel always complained about it, even though she wanted to be the one with the cock ninety-nine percent of the time."

"And you let her?" Max cocked an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound like you."

"She was  _ very  _ persuasive."

"I guess I did see you taking a faceful of vigorous space dick." Max observed. 

"And how!" 

"Speaking of," Max nestled back into the warmth of Chloe's body heat, "You were pretty damn good at that."

"Thanks, I try." Chloe played it off nonchalantly. 

"I mean, like, really good." Max insisted. 

"Mm." Chloe shrugged. 

"C'mon, I gotta know how." Max pressed. "Because we're both gay women. Blowjobs typically don't factor into that a whole bunch."

"Me and Rach were fooling around once, I tried it on a whim, and she liked it. After that it was just practice." Chloe shrugged. "There ain't much to tell, really. Why do you wanna know?" 

Max hesitated for a brief second. "Is it bad that I kinda want to try it on you?" 

"You mean, is it bad that you wanna try a new thing with the aim of pleasuring your romantic partner? Fuck no, dude." Chloe said, dispelling any qualms Max might have had concerning the entire thing. 

"Though, maybe wait until next time." The pilot added. "Kinda tapped out right now."

"Next time." Max echoed. 

For the next few minutes, neither of them spoke. Max was happy to lie in silence, content to let her mind wander and listen to the sounds of the waves lapping against the side of the boat. Chloe appeared to be doing much the same, apart from letting out the occasional satisfied hum. 

Perhaps inexorably, however, Max's pleasant daydreams eventually turned to the future, and what that might entail. She decided it was probably worth giving voice to her thoughts. 

"What's next?" She said. 

"Damn, Max," Chloe chuckled, "Didn't think you'd be ready to go again so quickly."

"I didn't mean sex, dummy." Max said, with a poke to Chloe's shoulder. "I meant what's next for us. What do we do?" 

"Well," Chloe scratched her chin with her mechanical finger, which produced an almost imperceptible whir at the motion, "We need credits. I spent the last of my stash renting the boat."

"Of course you did."

"Worth it." Chloe declared. 

Max nipped at her earlobe. Not hard, but enough for Chloe's breath to hitch in her throat. "Definitely." She agreed. 

"Anyway." Chloe cleared her throat in a failed attempt at disguising the sudden tremor in her voice. "Credits. That means finding a job somewhere."

"Like what?" Max asked. "I've never had a job outside of Jedi stuff."

"Anything we can get. It's a big galaxy." Chloe answered. "I've run cargo before, legit and not-so-legit.

"Nothing illegal." Max stated. 

"That kinda limits our options." Chloe pointed out. "Though, I think we're pretty close to Corellia. There's bound to be something legit if we just ask around. Hell, with your skillset, we could even go for private merc contracts."

"As long as it would be helping people." Max insisted. 

"Don't worry." Chloe left a chaste kiss on the tip of Max's nose. "Good causes only."

"Excellent."

"So how about this: we spend the night here, then, in the morning, take the boat back, pack up our shit and jump straight on the  _ Star?" _

"Sounds good to me." Max said, beginning to sound sleepy. "I'm sure Ren won't mind if we're away from the ship for one more night."

"Right, the droid." Chloe had almost forgotten about the eccentric little astromech. "He better have not  _ done anything  _ to my ship. Again."

"Leave him alone." Max poked her again. "He's my friend. Besides, what two consenting A.I. do in their own time isn't any of your business."

Chloe grumbled, but chose not to belabour the point, at least until she had a decent response. 

That opportunity never came. The next time Chloe looked down at Max, the ex-Jedi's eyes were closed, and her mouth was ever so slightly parted. She had clearly drifted off. 

Chloe shook her head, smiled, and snuggled closer to her partner. It wasn't long before she too had fallen asleep. 

Above them, the bright disk of the Galaxy, shot through with trillions of stars, wheeled slowly on towards morning.

* * *

“Hup!” Max exclaimed as she shouldered the hold-all, wincing a little as the weight of it fell squarely on her back. 

“You good there?” Chloe asked, busy finishing securing the boat to the dock.

“Yeah, just, did you have to pack so much stuff just for one night?”

“I wanted to have options.” Chloe shrugged.

"But we spent half the night naked."

Chloe dropped the now-taut line she had been tying. "You got me there." She admitted. 

"C'mon," Max flashed her a victorious grin, "Let's get back to the ship."

Chloe took her hand, and the duo set off, striding in amiable company. 

The walk back to the  _ Amber Star  _ was pleasant. It was still relatively early in the morning, and as such the temperature was still at the milder end of warm: not too hot, but enough to work up a light sweat while walking. The beach was mostly deserted, with the exception of a few humanoids of different species performing various morning exercises. Max and Chloe were able to cut a wide swathe around them so as to not impede their progress, aided by the empty beach. After a few minute's walk, they crossed through the attached resort, and took a public transport speeder back to the spaceport. 

As they neared the spaceport, and thus, the  _ Amber Star _ , Chloe's face visibly brightened with every passing minute. Vacations and everything were nice, but she never felt happier or more at home than when she was helming her baby. 

Max smiled. Chloe's happiness was, as usual, utterly infectious. 

By the time the speeder pulled up to the not-unimpressive megalith of shining durasteel that was the planet's spaceport, Chloe was practically bouncing. 

"Come on!" She exclaimed, bounding off the transport speeder the second the doors whisked open. 

Max followed, struggling to keep up with Chloe's enthusiastic pace without breaking into an outright run, while also being hampered by the weight of the bag. 

"Chloe! Slow down!" She called after her girlfriend. 

She did slow down, albeit only just, as she led Max through the bustling spaceport. After a few minutes of dodging crowds of every conceivable species - with Max apologising several times for Chloe's lack of spacial awareness - Chloe finally slowed to a reasonable pace when she beheld the flickering hologram that was their docking bay number. 

"Aha! Docking Bay 94!" Chloe grinned. "Finally."

She fished a keycard out of a pocket, and swiped it across a pad just next to the entryway. It beeped, flashed green, and an instant later the docking bay doors slid open. 

Chloe made her way through, followed closely by Max. After passing through a short tunnel, they emerged into a large, circular, open-roofed hangar. In the middle of the rotund space rested the  _ Amber Star.  _ For once, it looked immaculate, as Chloe had sprung for a full deep-clean of the outer hull when they had initially landed. 

"Home." Chloe breathed, a beatific smile gracing her features. 

So enraptured was Chloe with the prospect of getting behind the controls of her baby again, she failed to notice a figure, clad in a hood and wearing a bulky pack on their back, skulking around the landing ramp and looking decidedly suspicious. 

Max, however, didn't. 

"Hey Chloe," She said, "Who's that?" 

"Who's what?" 

"Them." Max pointed. 

Chloe's smile vanished in under a second once she saw what, or who, Max was pointing at. 

"Hey!" She shouted, striding towards the figure. "The fuck are you doing to my ship, asshole?" 

At the sound of her voice, the figure whirled towards them, screeched in an alien language, and poked some kind of data pad on their wrist. Two thrusters emerged from the bottom of what was now obviously a rocket pack, and before either Max or Chloe could react, the figure shot into the air and over the lip of the hangar wall before dropping out of sight. 

"What the fuck." Chloe growled. She ran over to her ship, Max in tow, and immediately began inspecting it, searching for any evidence of sabotage or other tampering. 

"Did they do anything?" Max asked. 

"I don't know yet." Chloe answered, scanning around the landing ramp for anything obvious. "I can't see anything, but…"

The implication was clear. Chloe wasn't going to be satisfied until she knew nothing was wrong. 

"Droid." Chloe spoke into a commlink. "Get out here. We need you." 

Her commlink chirped as W4-R3N acknowledged the request. 

In a matter of seconds - which still wasn't soon enough for Chloe's liking - the outer airlock hissed as it whooshed open, and the battered little astromech came trundling down the landing ramp, beeping a greeting to his two humans. 

"Hey buddy." Max patted him on the dome. 

Chloe wasn't quite as welcoming. "I need a total scan of the hull." She ordered. "Some creep was hanging around and I want to know if they fucked with anything."

W4-R3N whistled. 

"I'm not gonna say please. Just do it." 

"Chloe, be nice." Max gently chastised her. 

Chloe rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and huffed, suddenly looking and behaving very much like a teenager instead of a supposedly fully mature woman. 

"Fine." She forced through gritted teeth. " _ Please." _

W4-R3N tootled in acknowledgement, and set to work. 

The scan took a few minutes, during which time Chloe was either pacing back and forth or tapping her foot impatiently. Max was content kneel on the ground, taking the opportunity to meditate for a little while. 

At last, W4-R3N whistled happily, announcing he was done. 

"Find anything?" Chloe immediately asked. 

W4-R3N emitted a short series of staccato beeps. He had found nothing. 

"Are you sure?" 

The droid beeped once more. 

"What about the-" 

"Chloe, I'm sure he thought of everything." Max interjected. "If he says the ship is clean, it most likely is."

Chloe opened her mouth, but hesitated, clearly wracked with indecision. 

"Okay." She relented. "Let's just get going."

They boarded the ship, taking a minute or so to stow their belongings before heading straight to the cockpit. Chloe flipped a few switches, smiling despite herself as the  _ Amber Star  _ powered on with a familiar  _ thump-whoosh.  _ Moments later, they lifted off the ground, with Chloe skillfully maneuvering the freighter up and out of the hangar bay. 

The ship's console bleeped, asking for departure confirmation from the spaceport. Chloe reached over, and keyed in the relevant code. 

"You ready?" She asked Max. 

"Always." Max winked. 

Chloe smiled, her mood rapidly improving, and engaged the sublight engines. 

On the ground, the hooded figure peeked out from behind a support pillar. It chittered to itself, and lifted what looked like a small rifle. It adjusted its aim, made another sound, and fired. A small dart shot out of the barrel, and rocketed towards the  _ Amber Star.  _ It hit the hull, attaching itself with a small clink, after which four leg-like protrusions unfolded from the main body and spiked themselves into the hull. 

The figure chittered one more time to itself. It had done its job, and its employer would undoubtedly reward them well. 

* * *

With a sonorous clang, the  _ Amber Star  _ dropped out of hyperspace. Corellia lay before them: a mostly blue, temperate world shot through with plentiful clusters of lights on its night side from no-doubt bustling cities. 

Chloe took them down, slicing through the atmosphere with more ease than Max's lightsaber sliced through, well, anything. Chloe headed straight for Coronet City, the planet's capital. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, they had arrived in the dead of night, and while the city was evidently still rife with activity, any jobs they would find at such a time would more than likely be of questionable status in terms of legality. 

When they landed, and after a brief dispute with an over officious landing traffic controller on the subject of landing fees - his reasoning being that the dragon decal on the  _ Amber Star  _ made it 'custom', and thus subject to additional fees - Max and Chloe took one look outside the ship, immediately saw an obvious illicit deal going down on a corner, and silently agreed they would be much better off spending the night on the  _ Star,  _ and embarking on their job hunt in the morning. 

A little later, when the two of them were getting ready to bed down for the night, Chloe sighed. 

Max paused in the middle of shimmying out of her pants. Chloe often sighed, but the kind of sigh Chloe had produced could only mean Something Was Wrong. 

"What's up?" She asked. 

"Nothing." Chloe answered unconvincingly.

"Okay…" Max said, with the tiniest of incremental eyebrow raises. She shucked the rest of her pants off, waiting for the inevitable. 

"It's just," Chloe began, "I keep thinking about whoever was sniffing around my ship."

"Can I just say I knew something was bothering you?" Max said. "You didn't go for my ass as soon as I started taking my pants off."

"I mean, you're right, but. I'm worried about this, Max."

Max climbed into the bed and wrapped her arms around the pilot, making sure Chloe received an ample faceful of cleavage. 

"You're becoming predictable, Starfield." Chloe muttered from between Max's breasts. 

"Are you complaining?" 

"... No."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Max said reassuringly. "Whoever it was, they didn't do anything. And I'm sure something would've happened by now if it was going to."

"Mm. Maybe." Chloe half-heartedly agreed. 

"Let's just get some sleep, okay? We'll need it if we're spending tomorrow looking for work."

"Okay, but…" Chloe paused. "I have a bad feeling about this."

* * *

Upon awakening the next morning, Chloe yawned, stretched like a lothcat, and swung her legs over the side of the bed, noting through the clinging fog of sleep that Max had already gotten up. 

After hitting the 'fresher, she stumbled into the living quarters, announcing her presence with a loud yawn. 

"Morning, sweetie." Max said, not turning from the minuscule food prepping station, where she was currently preparing breakfast. 

Chloe grunted. Mornings never suited her. 

"Why're you up so early?" She asked after plonking her butt behind the battered table. 

"Just raring to go, I guess." Max shrugged. "I like having a clear plan for the day."

"Nerd." Chloe accused. 

"Never said I wasn't." Max retorted. "Caf?" 

"Sure."

"Coming right up."

Chloe watched through bleary eyes as a jug full of caf lifted itself off the counter, floated over to her and poured itself into a readily placed cup. When it was done pouring, she took a long swig, feeling the drink's warmth suffuse her body. 

"Thanks." She said after putting it down. 

"I thought you'd need it." Max said, and brought two trays of breakfast over. 

"You thought right." Chloe dug a fork in, and began eating. 

Breakfast was consumed in relative silence. Chloe still lacked energy for more than monosyllabic conversation, while Max was scrolling through various holonet feeds. 

When Chloe put down her spoon after the final mouthful, Max also lowered her datapad. 

"Ready to get going?" She prompted. 

Chloe shook her head. "Shower." She said. 

"Be quick?" Max asked. "I'd join you, but I showered when I got up."

Chloe grunted, and wandered back off to the 'fresher. She stripped off her clothing, set the shower to its most powerful setting, and stepped under the water. Soon enough, the steaming hot water had succeeded in restoring a fair bit of her humanity. Somewhat regretfully, Chloe shut off the powerful flow after finishing up, dried herself off, and dressed herself in grey bootcut trousers, a white shirt, black half-length jacket and her favourite pair of knee-length boots. 

"You look substantially more alert." Max observed when Chloe strode back into the living quarters. 

"Yeah, rubbing one out in the shower helps with that." Chloe drily said. 

"I'm kidding, dude." She hastily added when Max looked somewhat shocked. 

"I mean, I wouldn't be bothered, what you do in your own time is your business and stuff-" Max stammered out. 

"Hey," Chloe interrupted, "If I was gonna jerk off in the shower, I'd want you to  _ watch _ ."

Colour flooded Max's cheeks. "I, uh. I think I'd like that?" 

"Later." Chloe winked. "C'mon, are we gonna get going or what?" 

"Oh. Right. Yep." Max replied, still a little flustered by the mental image of Chloe wet, naked, and masturbating vigorously. 

“Having some trouble there?” Chloe asked, a sly grin creeping across her face.

“No.” Max lied. 

"Uh-huh." Chloe said, not convinced in the slightest. 

"Anyway." Max cleared her throat. "We should go." She got up and hastily brushed past Chloe, who easily spotted the hint of colour still in Max's cheeks. The pilot followed, not without a confident sway in her hips and a smirk on her face. 

"Ren!" Max called into the cockpit. 

"You're coming with us, buddy." She told the little astromech once he appeared. 

W4-R3N tootled happily, sounding happy to be getting off the ship for once. 

"Does he have to come?" Chloe questioned. 

"Chloe, it's Corellia. The whole planet manufactures stuff, meaning, mechanical thing everywhere. Little guy will be in heaven, right, Ren?" 

W4-R3N whistled an affirmative, rocking back and forth on his treads in excitement. 

"See?" Max said, gesturing to him. 

Chloe smiled, despite herself. "Alright, I guess that is kinda cute… aaaand I already hate myself for saying that."

"She doesn't mean it." Max patted him on the dome again. 

W4-R3N trilled something that sounded vaguely sarcastic, and trundled down the landing ramp. Max shrugged to Chloe, and followed him. 

"So where are we heading?" Max asked when all three of them had disembarked. 

"Wherever the nearest cantina is." Chloe answered. 

Max frowned. "Are you sure we'll find something legit? Cantinas are, well…"

"Full of scum and villainy?" Chloe finished. "Definitely. But there's also tons of legit stuff, you just have to make it clear that's what you're looking for."

"Alright, you've convinced me. Maybe." Max said. "Lead the way."

The three of them set off, with Chloe picking their way through the hustle and bustle of Coronet City. Max was happy to simply follow - with W4-R3N sticking to her side - as she had absolutely no clue where they were going, whereas Chloe seemed to have some kind of inkling, judging by the pace of her sure-footed stride. Indeed, it only took a few minutes more for Chloe to locate a 'reputable' cantina: a squat, oblong building in the middle of a small square, looking for all the world as if someone had just dumped if there without a second thought. 

As they approached the entrance, Max stopped in her tracks, momentarily frozen to the spot. The Force, usually gentle and soothing like a warm wave washing over her, had suddenly spiked in activity. Activity that was in no uncertain terms coming from the cantina. 

"Max? What's wrong?" Chloe asked, concerned. 

"I think." Max began, but stopped herself, focusing her senses. "I think there's a Jedi in there."

"What? No way." Chloe dismissed her claim. "What in the hell would a Jedi be doing on Corellia?" 

"I don't know, but if we can, we should probably find out." Max pointed out. 

"And here I was hoping to steer clear of Jedi bullshit." Chloe complained. "No offense." She added. 

"None taken." Max replied. "I'm not a Jedi. Now, shall we?" 

"After you." Chloe gestured towards the door. 

Max wasted no time in entering, she was far intrigued about why a Jedi was on Corellia. 

The inside of the cantina, contrary to its dull grey exterior, was loud, brightly lit and surprisingly busy given the still-early hour. Patrons took up almost every table, with several more hanging around the bar, waiting for the flustered-looking Mon Cal bartender to get to them. 

"Huh." Chloe said as she entered, followed by W4-R3N. "This place ain't the shit-hole I thought it would be. I'm surprised."

"You expected it to be a shit-hole?" Max looked back over her shoulder. "Why?" 

Chloe shrugged. "Cantinas."

"Fair." Max said after considering for a few seconds. “Now. How about we find the Jedi and ask them-”

“What in the hell are you doin’ here?” A gruff male voice sounded from behind Max.

Even with her years of training and Jedi composition, Max still practically jumped out of her skin. She whipped round and came face to face with a robed, hooded man, but not before Chloe's hand flew to her blaster 

"Who the fuck are you?" Chloe growled, her finger resting on the trigger. 

"Relax, kid." The man shucked off his hood. "We're all friends here."

" _ Master David?! _ " Max exclaimed, her jaw dropping almost comically. 

"Max Starfield." David grinned. "As I live and breathe."

* * *

"So." David began as he levered himself into a chair. "What're you doin' on Corellia?" 

"Looking for work." Max explained. "Gotta make credits somehow."

"I guess that makes sense." He nodded. "Now that you're livin' your own life an' all." He said, with a flick of his eyes to Chloe, who crossed her arms and stared back. 

"Being able to do what I want  _ is  _ pretty nice." Max smiled. "But while I've said why we're here, you haven't. What's a Jedi Temple security chief doing all the way out here?" 

"Oh." David grinned. "That. After that whole security ' _ snafu _ ' a few months back, the Council - after a  _ ton _ of debates - finally decided havin' better security  _ might  _ be somethin' they should consider. 'Specially after your, uh…" He trailed off, and gestured at Chloe. 

"Girlfriend." Chloe said. 

"I didn't wanna assume." David continued. "But yeah, after your girlfriend here was able to just waltz into the Council Chambers-" 

At this, Chloe smirked proudly. 

"-they asked me if I could do anythin' about it. But, y'know,  _ on the down low.  _ I reckon they were embarrassed by the whole thing." He chuckled. "So I came out here. Corellia is a terrific place if you need somethin' without anyone knowin' about it."

"That's hella true." Chloe chimed in. 

"Thank you. And let me just say, it's an honour to meet the girl who helped save the Jedi Order." David addressed Chloe. 

"Oh, it was nothing." Chloe waved a hand in a nonchalant manner, even though she was clearly enjoying the praise. 

"And Max," David turned to the ex-Jedi. "Thank you as well. Plus, you standin' up to the Council like that gave me somethin' to laugh at for weeks. Nobody could believe what you did, leavin' the Order an' all. Far as I know, everyone's  _ still  _ talkin' about it."

A hint of colour crept into Max's cheeks. “I don't think I did anything particularly special, but thanks anyway."

"Nonsense." David protested. "Jedi like you are one in a billion. You're special, kid, so don't act like you're not. In fact," He held out a hand, "I don't think you've gotten even a fraction o' the praise you deserve."

Max shook her head in embarrassment, but reached out to shake his hand anyway. 

A nanosecond before her hand touched his, Max involuntarily took a sharp breath, and in that instant, she knew there was no way to avoid the vision that was about to hit her. Then, her hand met his, the Force rippled, and an assault of images flooded her brain. 

_ Smoke.  _

_ Screams.  _

_ The acrid stench of burnt flesh.  _

_ Fire.  _

_ Blood.  _

_ Bodies everywhere.  _

_ Death.  _

Just as suddenly as it had come, the vision was over. Max stumbled backwards out of her chair in a panic, instantly hyperventilating and her heart feeling like it was going to explode. 

The other three beings around the table reacted almost as quickly. 

"Max?!" Chloe reached out for her hand. "What's wrong?" 

"I felt it, too." David almost gasped. "A disturbance in the Force!" 

[Master?] W4-R3N said in droidspeak. 

But Max didn't answer any of them. Her gaze was trained on the nearest window, through which she could see a solitary figure walking slowly through the square. As they approached, they lifted a bulky, boxy tube, and pointed it directly at the cantina. Max had never personally seen one before, but she knew enough to recognise it as a portable missile launcher. 

Her eyes went wide. Dread filled her heart. Her breath caught in her throat. 

An instant before they fired, the figure passed through a brief ray of sunlight that had managed to penetrate the overcast clouds. For a second, seemingly frozen in time, the sun shone vividly off blood red Mandalorian armour. 

"Oh no." Max whispered. 

Then, Nathan fired, and the cantina erupted in flames. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god oh fuck.
> 
> Well, this chapter ended up being about a thousand words longer than I thought it would, but hopefully the end result was worth it.
> 
> Some insights:  
> -strapons are hella fun to write.  
> -chill David is also fun to write.  
> -the plot gets real from here on out.
> 
> And be honest, how many of you figured it was Nathan?
> 
> See you guys next time. MTFBHWY.


	3. Episode III - Grievous Circumstances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a while, didn't it? Sorry about that. Personal life stuff, plus this chapter was honestly a bitch to write, and I've been working on several other things at the same time.
> 
> Anyway, thanks to r_darkstorm for beta'ing, and convincing me I wasn't committing narrative suicide with this chapter.

**Episode III**

**Grievous Circumstances**

Everything was red. 

Max blinked, slowly, through heavy eyelids. When she opened her eyes again, the all-encompassing redness had shifted, smearing itself across her field of vision. 

She realised it was her own blood, dripping into her eyes. Automatically, Max raised a hand that felt almost impossible to lift, and made an attempt at wiping the blood away. It was akin to lifting clumsy blocks of ferrocrete instead of her own limbs, but after a couple of swipes, she managed it.

Her vision cleared, Max was met with a scene of utter destruction.

The cantina had been blown wide open. Several fires raged in the midst of a wide swathe of debris and shattered glass, billowing clouds of acrid black smoke into the sky.

 _What the hell happened?_ Max thought, her brain struggling to process the cause of the devastation surrounding her.

Then, in an instant, it all came flooding back. She saw Nathan, blood-red armour glinting in the sun. 

She saw the missile, streaking directly at the cantina. 

She saw David fling out his arms, Force pushing Chloe away at the last possible second with one hand, and making a last-ditch effort to shield them from the worst of the explosion with the other. 

And then, everything erupted in flames, and with that her memory of the event ended. 

Her next thought was of Chloe. Max's heartbeat immediately spiked. Was Chloe alive? Was she injured? Fear flooded her body, coiling in her stomach like a snake at the thought of what could have happened to her… 

"Max!" 

_Oh thank the Force_ , Max thought, relief sweeping through her at the welcome sound of Chloe's voice. 

"Chloe!" She coughed out. Her throat was burning - from smoke or dust she did not know - reducing her voice to a cracked gasp. "I'm over here!" She forced out. 

Chloe staggered into view. She was battered, bruised, and her face was covered in soot and dirt, but otherwise she appeared to be unharmed. Upon seeing Max, she hobbled over as fast as she was able to. 

"Thank fuck you're alright." She exclaimed, reaching down to pull Max up. 

The second she was vertical again, Max fell into the pilot's arms, gripping her as if she was afraid that if she let go, Chloe would simply vanish. 

"I'm so glad you're alive." Max breathed. 

"Me too." Chloe wrapped her arms around Max. "But I wouldn't be if it wasn't for…" She looked behind her, her face falling into a frown when she saw David wasn't there. 

Her sentence didn't need finishing. The two women looked at each other, and as one, began scanning the wreckage in search of the Jedi Master. 

"David!" Max shouted, hoping against hope it wouldn't take long to find him. 

Fortunately, it didn't. 

"I'm here." His voice weakly came, immediately followed by a hacking, spluttering cough. "No need to holler."

Without a word, Max rushed over to where his voice had come from, to find David crawling out from under a large slab of rubble

"Are you okay?" She asked, breathlessly. 

He winced, but nodded. "A little banged up. Nothin' serious." He said. 

"Honestly, I'm more embarrassed than anythin' else." David continued, and held up a crushed, sparking lightsaber. "The Council will never let me hear the end o' this."

Max made a sympathetic expression. "We could fix it? I think my droid might be able to-" 

She stopped in her tracks, horror washing over her face. "Ren." She whispered. She whirled round, searching for the little astromech, but saw no immediate sign of him. 

"Buddy?" Max called out, practically diving into the wreckage in order to search for him. "Chloe, help me find him." She ordered. 

Chloe opened her mouth, but thought better, and began to half-heartedly sift through the debris. 

"He has to be here. He _has_ to." Max said, more in an attempt to reassure herself than anything else as she frantically hurled various decimated parts of the cantina aside. 

"Max." Chloe softly said. 

"Keep looking!" 

" _Max._ " Chloe repeated, more forcefully this time. 

Max hesitated before turning to face her. She knew what Chloe was going to say, and part of her couldn't bear to hear it. 

Slowly, she turned around. 

"I'm so sorry." Chloe held out her hands.

Resting across both palms was a charred piece of astromech dome, bearing W4-R3N's markings. Burnt electronics trailed out from under the mangled dome, and his ocular sensor was cracked neatly in two. 

Anguish struck Max like a hammer. She sunk to her knees, tears already streaming down her cheeks, leaving clear trails in the dirt covering her face. "No!" She choked out, her voice cracking again, but this time in grief for her fallen friend. 

Max barely registered Chloe placing a hand on her shoulder. 

"He was my friend." She sobbed. 

"I know." Chloe tried to comfort her. "He was a good droid."

"He was a Temple droid, right?" David said. "I think I maybe met him once. Kinda eccentric, but he seemed like a good sort."

None of their words reached Max. She still couldn't believe he was gone. 

So distraught was she, that she didn't notice a small glint from the roof of a building across the square from the smoking remains of the cantina. 

David, however, did notice it. 

"Get down!" He bellowed, and shoved Max and Chloe aside. 

Less than a second later, a green, high powered bolt of ionised gas streaked across the square. 

The blaster bolt struck David in the centre of his chest, burning entirely through his body in an instant, leaving a cauterised hole similar in size to a lightsaber thrust. He made a small noise as a burst of air escaped his throat, and then collapsed to the floor. 

* * *

  
"Shit!" Nathan cursed, seeing the older man - whoever he was - take the shot he had intended for the Jedi bitch. 

He was already angry at himself, as he had thought an entire missile would have been more than enough to wipe both of them out, but unfortunately the two women had an extremely irritating habit of surviving whatever he threw at them. 

His frustration deepened as he thought of the amount of effort it had taken to reach this point: barely escaping the _Obscura,_ half-blinded, before it crashed into the surface of Coruscant. The months of recuperating, planning his revenge, hiring trackers and informants from all over the Galaxy in the hope of finding _just one sign_ of Max Starfield and Chloe Price - the two people responsible for ruining him. And then, when one of his spies had _finally_ succeeded in finding the two women and planting a tracker on that piece-of-shit ship of theirs, procuring a missile launcher on short notice and hauling ass from Mandalore to Corellia, hoping they wouldn't have already left by the time he got there. 

He scowled darkly, and went to line up another shot. Maybe this time he could at least take out the smuggler whore without any uninvited interruptions. 

Nathan adjusted his rifle, centering the crosshairs directly over Chloe's head. He would be successful this time, he just knew it. The Jedi was occupied with the downed human male, leaving Chloe wide open. This was his moment. 

He smiled, and pulled the trigger.

* * *

"No!" Max yelled as David collapsed, smoke trailing from the hole burned through his chest. 

Her mind immediately refused to accept it. Jedi didn't just _die_ like that; so suddenly, so unfairly. A torrent of emotion swelled up inside her, and for the first time in months, she felt like the world was out of control, askew. Unbalanced. 

As if in response, the Force pulsed strongly, screaming at her that something was still deeply wrong. But the pulse was not around Max: it was centered on Chloe. 

Time seemed to slow to a crawl again. This time, Max was ready for it. A second green bolt came streaking their way, heading straight for Chloe. 

On instinct, Max threw out a hand towards the sniper bolt. 

She caught it. 

Not with flesh, but with the Force. 

The glowing green bolt hovered, crackling with energy, less than a foot from Chloe's head. 

"Fuck." Chloe said. 

Max snarled, and with a notable effort, redirected the laser blast back at Nathan. It struck him in the chest, blowing him backwards off his feet where he landed, sprawling, on his back. 

Max barely registered Nathan being knocked down. She knew he was still alive, as she dully sensed his life energy in the background, but her mind was far more occupied with the deaths of David and W4-R3N. With the immediate danger seemingly over, her emotions still threatened to overwhelm her. When she had achieved balance, Max thought she could handle anything: anger, fear, jealousy… all the things that supposedly led to the Dark Side. 

But grief, grief was new to her, and Max didn't know how to handle it. 

She had known of Jedi who had died before. It was rare, but when it did happen, the whole Temple would be affected. Not in mourning, no, but respectfully noting the passing of the individual and celebrating their becoming one with the Force. Though it was still small solace to Max that David, the physical being, was forever gone, even if he had just simply returned to the great energy field that was the living Force. 

W4-R3N was another matter. He was - or rather, had been - a droid. With his robotic body destroyed along with the memory core within, the poor little astromech was gone. Forever. 

Max let out a sob, as a great sense of emptiness and loss for her fallen friend hit her like a blow to the gut. She stumbled, and her legs would have collapsed under her if not for Chloe grabbing her in the nick of time. 

With Chloe supporting her, Max dimly became aware that her partner was saying something. With a great effort, she turned her head, focusing on Chloe's mouth as it formed words. At first, the movements made no sense. Max furrowed her brow, trying to snap out of it and force herself to listen instead. 

"-need to go now!" Chloe's voice finally came through. 

"What?" Max asked, still a little dazed. 

"Max. We _need_ to go, right the hell now." Chloe pressed. "Local authorities will already be on their way. We need to get the fuck out of here."

"But… David. And all these people." Max found herself saying. 

"I know. But if they take us in, Nathan will find us again, kill us, and probably more innocents at the same time."

When Max still didn't move, Chloe looped her arm through Max's and firmly dragged her out of the wreckage of the cantina. Max let herself be pulled, even though her soul was screaming that it was wrong, that she should stay and help. 

She cast one last look back at the chaotic scene that now lay behind them. David's body was still visible, lying face down amidst the debris. 

_May the Force be with you._ Max thought. 

* * *

Nathan coughed, and then groaned as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. 

He winced in pain. The reflected shot hadn't been enough to kill him, courtesy of his pure beskar armour, but it had still caused a great amount of discomfort. With an angry growl, he got to his feet, and hobbled over to the edge of the roof. 

"Cunts!" He cursed as he saw Max and Chloe disappearing down an alley. 

He activated his jetpack, and made to go after them, but stopped when his helmet's internal heads up display flashed a warning, notifying him of the presence of approaching sirens, no doubt from whatever passed for a police force on this depressingly dull planet. 

"This isn't over!" Nathan declared with a snarl as he dropped off the roof, and made his way back to his ship. "Mark my fucking words." 

Even if Max and Chloe found the tracker and destroyed it, it would only be a matter of time until he found them again. He was sure of it. Until then, he would return home to Mandalore. His father would no doubt be concerned about his sudden absence. 

Under his helmet, he grimaced. He'd need a good excuse for taking off without warning. His father could be unsympathetic at the best of times, and liked to know everything that happened - and who came and went - in his city. 

But it would probably be fine, Nathan told himself. He was the prodigal son of Clan Pris'kott, ruling clan of the city of Ebon Vella. Nothing could touch him. 

* * *

"Come on!" Chloe burst into the hangar bay, still dragging Max behind her. 

She raced up to the _Amber Star,_ and was halfway up the landing ramp before she came to a dead stop, causing Max to bump into the back of her. 

"Tracker." Chloe said. 

"What?" 

"They must have put a tracker on the ship." Chloe explained. "It's the only way Nathan could've found us."

"But we scanned the ship before we took off. There was nothing there." Max countered. 

"Yeah, unless that creepy thing with the jetpack attached a tracker _after_ we took off, and we never noticed." Chloe said. "Stay here and keep a look out." She ordered. "I'm gonna find a scanner."

Max obeyed, keeping an eye on the hangar entrance, as well as watching through the Force for any approaching threats. She could feel emergency services swarming the site of the destroyed cantina, no doubt tending to anyone still alive. Max looked at the rising plume of smoke visible over the lip of the hangar bay, and felt a second pang of guilt. Her Jedi training, ever-present in the back of her mind, was still telling her to help. 

"Got it." Chloe said, interrupting her thoughts and brandishing a hand-held scanner. 

It took the pilot only about a minute to locate the tracker, lodged securely into the underside of the hull. 

"I knew it." Chloe growled, and pulled it out. She threw it on the ground and stomped on it, crushing it into a pile of parts. "Fucker must have tracked us from Haptikos."

Max stood, immobile, still staring at the plume of smoke, now ominously lit by the flashing beacons of the emergency services. 

"Max." Chloe prompted, gently but still urgently. 

Max shook her head, and broke out of her self imposed daze. "Right. Coming." She said, robotically, and followed Chloe up the ramp and into the cockpit. 

Once she had sat down, Chloe immediately gunned the engine, and took off at a speed that would have been illegal on most planets. 

In less than two minutes, they were back in space. Chloe relaxed, slumping back against her pilot's chair. "I think we're safe." She said. "We got out of there pretty quick." 

She turned to Max. "Are you okay? How're you holding up?" 

Max took one look at Chloe and instantly burst into tears. 

"Whoa, hey. It's alright." Chloe scooped Max up into a tight embrace. "I've got you. You're safe." She tried to console Max, while the ex-Jedi openly wept into her shoulder, clutching the back of Chloe's jacket. 

Chloe held her for a long while, making soothing noises and gently rocking back and forth while Max cried. 

Eventually, Max's heavy sobs dwindled into shaky breaths punctuated by sniffles. She drew back, and wiped her eyes with the corner of her sleeve. 

Chloe looked at her, but stayed silent. Her hands rested on Max's knees, letting her know she could talk whenever she was ready. 

"I - I'm sorry." Max began. 

"You don't need to apologise, Max." Chloe automatically interjected. 

"Let me finish." Max insisted. 

"Okay, fair, sorry." Chloe leaned back in her chair again. 

"I just - I don't know how to deal with this." Max explained. "With loss, I mean. I thought I was balanced, but, I never learned how to go through something like this. The Jedi never taught us. Instead, they told me to celebrate whenever someone passed into the Force, so I don't - I don't know, Chloe. This is new to me."

Chkoe sighed, long and heavily. “Figures they never considered how to deal with shit like this." She muttered. "Alright, Max. Listen to me. What you're feeling now is completely normal. You lost a friend, and someone you knew. That's going to hurt. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. But it's okay to feel these things. Allow them, accept them. They… won't go away, not for a long time, if ever. But one day, they won't seem quite as bad, and that's what you gotta move towards, even if it hurts like hell."

Max sat for a long moment as she processed Chloe's words. Ultimately, she decided they made sense, even if she still didn't want to accept a reality where she had to accept them. 

"Okay." She took a deep breath. "Thanks, Chloe."

Chloe drew her into a fierce hug. "I'll always be here for you, okay? I love you."

"I love you too."

"And if it helps," Chloe continued, "I saved this." She reached behind her back, and pulled out the charred piece of astromech dome featuring W4-R3N's ocular sensor. "I thought we could give the little guy a send-off. If that's okay with you?"

At the sight of the broken piece of astromech droid, Max let out a choked sob before catching herself. "I… I think I'd like that." She said, trying to sound genuinely thankful. 

"Wanna do it now?" Chloe offered. "Or do you need more time?"

"More time would be good." Max said after thinking for a moment. "He was my friend, and I'd like to do it right, because the only thing I can think of right now is sending him out of an airlock, and that doesn't feel right."

"I get that." Chloe nodded in sympathy. "Whenever you're ready."

"Thanks, Chloe."

Silence fell between the two. Each knew what they had to discuss next, but neither wanted to face it just yet, as they knew just what it could mean. 

It was Max who spoke first. She sighed, rubbed her face in her hands, and fixed Chloe with a look. 

"What do we do?" She asked. 

Chloe didn't immediately answer. Her brow furrowed, and a muscle in her jaw twitched as she clenched it. 

"I think we both know what the answer to that has to be." She said, sounding grim and determined, but also resigned, frustrated, and like she was wishing their circumstances were literally anything else right now. 

"We could run?" Max suggested. "Run and go somewhere he'll never find us." She said, but sounded like she didn't believe her own words in the slightest. 

"No." Chloe shook her head. "He already tracked us down once. I know him, and he's psycho enough to not stop until we're dead. And even if we did run, he'd just find a weakness, like my Mom, and use that against us. It's just a matter of time."

"As much as I don't want to admit it… you're right." Max agreed. "And I don't want to be the cause of the death of any more innocents. I just can't, Chloe."

Chloe nodded, her brow set. "Then it sounds like we just have one option: we bring the fight to him, and take him down. Permanently, this time."

"Where do we start?" 

Chloe poked a few buttons on the navicomp, already entering coordinates. "His homeworld. It's as good a place as any."

"You mean-" Max started to say. 

"Yeah." Chloe said. "We're going to Mandalore."

* * *

Having escaped the authorities with ease, Nathan sat, ensconced in the safety of his top-of-the-line, ludicrously expensive personal starship: the _Shallow Grave_. 

Anger still coursed through his veins, and his pride stung at the fact that he had failed to kill either one of those two. Clearly, getting rid of just one _bantha-poodoo_ smuggler was a more complicated task when her Jedi scum girlfriend was involved. 

His ship's console chimed, interrupting his brooding thoughts and informing him a transmission was incoming. Under his helmet, he scowled, and reluctantly punched the receive button. A fellow Mandalorian appeared in hologram form. Nathan recognised her as a member of his clan; one of his father's assistants. 

"Greetings-" She began. 

"What is it?" Nathan cut her off. 

She blinked, but otherwise displayed no reaction to his curt deposition. "Your father, Sha'in, leader of Clan Ebon Vella, _requests_ your swift return to Mandalore."

"Why?" Nathan scowled. "Has he got nothing better to do?" 

"He only informed me that if you displayed any _reluctance_ ," The assistant stressed the word, "You should take his request as a direct order."

"Fine." Nathan said petulantly. "Tell him I'll be there, but it'll take a few hours."

"I shall." The assistant inclined her head. "This is the w-" 

Nathan shut off the transmission. This was the last thing he needed. With an equal amount of trepidation and annoyance, he entered Mandalore's coordinates into the navicomp. 

Seconds later, the stars elongated, and his ship leapt to hyperspace. 

* * *

A pang of deep sadness, for a brief moment, flashed through Yoda, before the diminutive Jedi Master moved past the emotion, with a little help from the Force's calming influence.

"A grave matter, this is." He said to the few fellow Council members that were currently residing in the Temple, all of them between assignments. "Taken lightly, the death of a Jedi Master must not be."

"Are the reports we received accurate?" Plo Koon said. "I know it's only been a few hours since the Temple received the transmission from Corellia, and clear information is often not the strongest suit of the authorities there."

"Accurate, they were." Yoda confirmed. "Passed into the netherworld of the Force, Master Madsen has."

"Then this is indeed a great tragedy for the Order." Mace Windu intoned, his voice low and sonorous. 

A moment of silence fell across the Council chambers as the room's occupants respectfully marked the passing of their fallen peer. Though his corporeal form was no more, each Jedi Master took solace in the fact that David had no doubt ascended to a higher plane of existence, and was now part of the eternal, boundless field that was the Living Force. 

"Decide we must," Yoda broke the silence, "On what course of action to take."

"What do you mean?" Plo Koon asked. 

"A complication, there is." Yoda began. 

"If I may," Mace spoke up, "Master Yoda has already confided in me." He addressed the room. "Two individuals familiar to us were reported around the scene, before the incident, and were also seen fleeing afterwards."

Mace paused. "Those two individuals were Max Starfield and her partner Chloe Price."

"Ah." Yarael Poof said. 

"Unsure, examiners were, if Master Madsen died by blaster… or by lightsaber. Too similar, the wound was." Yoda said, slowly and carefully. 

"No…" Plo Koon said in disbelief. "Surely someone like Max wouldn't do such a thing."

"That is what we have a pressing need to find out." Mace stated. "If we all agree, Max must at least be brought in for questioning."

"I agree."

"Aye."

"Agree, I do."

"Then it is settled." Mace confirmed, not without a note of reluctance. He had thought Max to be balanced, and even though she wasn't a Jedi anymore, he had been certain she wasn't a threat. With this turn of events, he wasn't sure of anything anymore. "We will send members of the Order to find Max, and bring her back here to answer our questions."

"If she is already running, it would be better to dispatch a smaller team, for ease of transport and less chance of being discovered." Yarael pointed out. "No more than, say, two."

"Agreed." Yoda nodded. "Any suggestions, have we?" 

Mace clasped his hands together. "I may have a few thoughts on that." He met the eyes of the other Council members. "Someone who personally knew Starfield would be a good pick." 

He waved a hand, opening the council chamber doors. The two Temple guards outside strode dutifully in, paused, and bowed before the Masters, quietly awaiting instructions. 

Mace gave them an order, and they departed. 

Only minutes later, they returned with two Jedi Knights, one of them tall, blonde, statuesque and radiating in confidence. 

The other Jedi Knight was slightly more demure, and possessed of a gentle energy. Her chocolate brown hair was done up in a loose bun, and a talisman bearing the insignia of the Jedi Order hung from round her neck. 

"Masters." Kate bowed respectfully. 

"Council members," Victoria acknowledged them, before launching right into her next sentence, without bothering to bow, "I understand you have an assignment you want to discuss."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, uh. Yeah. This chapter is heavy. If you were really attached to W4-R3N and are now thinking "fuck this story, I'm out", I'll totally understand. I was and am still nervous about killing him off. But for me, it needed to happen to give the narrative more weight, and give Max a personal stake in this. Though I'm gonna miss the little guy.
> 
> If you are sticking around, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'm excited about the next one, as we've now got all of our major plot threads set up. Honestly, there's some exciting stuff coming.
> 
> Until next time, stay safe out there, and MTFBHWY.


	4. Episode IV - Disparate Threads

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Somehow, ThreeBulletNecklace returned".
> 
> Hey guys, sorry for taking so long. TLDR: a bunch of things got in the way, though I'll explain more at the end. For now, I hope you enjoy the chapter.
> 
> Thanks, as always, go to r_darkstorm for helping me wrestle with trying not to overcomplicate my plot.

**Episode IV**

**Disparate Threads**

  
  


Above an unremarkable, desolate-looking planet, a sleek, dark grey starship - shot through with blood red accents - blinked back into realspace. It rapidly approached the planet, cutting through the atmosphere as if it wasn't even there. 

The ship swooped low over craggy plains laced with cracks, pits and blasted rocks, frightening the local wildlife as it howled over the landscape. Soon, it reached a great canyon, filled by thousands of naturally occurring rocky pillars, ranging from only a few feet across to several dozen. At the U-shaped end of the canyon, partially situated on two immense rock pillars, standing parallel to each other, rested a massive domed city. As well as the two pillars, hundreds of artificial support struts spiked out from the city's underside, spearing the mighty walls of the canyon in order to help bear the undoubtedly immense weight of the city. 

The ship sped towards this hulking metropolis, heading for a small docking port high up on the outer curve. It didn't slow down until it was almost exactly over a landing pad, where it braked sharply and descended towards the pad, causing several workers to scramble in panic. Upon landing, the engines had barely begun to cool before the ship's landing ramp extended. It didn't even touch the floor before the ship's pilot emerged, stalking angrily down the ramp and stepping off just as it hit the ground. 

Every single living being hurriedly scurried to the side, giving him a wide berth as he passed. They knew what his temper was like, and knew not to get in his way. 

He made his way down a wide walkway, lined with statues - mostly of legendary warriors from eras of great conflicts past. He ignored them, acknowledging not a single one. Eventually, he came to a tall, arched entrance, manned by half a dozen guards. As he approached, they automatically stood aside, and hefted their blasters in a salute. 

He ignored them too, and swept into the domed city. 

Familiar, beautiful, cubed architecture greeted him, with elegantly rectangle-shaped buildings and domiciles asymmetrically laid out in a massively complicated, gently ascending sprawl, rising upwards and surrounding a walled central citadel, out of which rose a massively tall central spire. 

The entire structure, and the upper city around it, rested atop a single, immense circular plate. The plate didn't extend to the edges of the city, instead, it only occupied about two thirds of the space, the rest of the distance between the upper plate and the city's edge being taken up by colossal support beams. Underneath the plate, the lower city was partially visible, shrouded in what appeared to be heavy smog. 

As the figure climbed into an expensive personal speeder, he glanced down at the lower city, and curled his lip in disgust at the no-doubt filthy, pathetic scum residing down there. 

The speeder travelled onwards, heading directly towards the citadel. It landed just outside a set of impressively thick main gates, that looked like they could withstand all but the heaviest munitions. More guards - armed with heavier blasters than their comrades guarding the city gate - swept aside as he passed into the citadel itself. 

He continued apace, still ignoring every soul he passed, journeying down hallways of ornate, rich, dark stone and durasteel, lined with more statues of his ancestors, with the most important ones also coupled with holo-portraits featuring the individual concerned in action. 

Soon enough, he arrived at a dark gold turbolift, which featured an extravagantly detailed symbol of a predatory bird, talons and wings outstretched, embossed onto the surface. A solitary servant stood outside, who nodded in greeting, and pressed the button to open the doors. 

The turbolift swiftly ascended, bearing him upwards towards the very pinnacle of the citadel's spire, where his destination awaited. 

When it eventually slowed to a stop, it opened onto a foyer, where a beautifully designed desk sat in the centre of the hallway, designed to draw people's attention to it. At the desk sat a blonde woman, clad in a modest but still obviously expensive and custom designed administrative uniform. On the upper left breast, sat a metal name tag with 'Juliet' emblazoned in Aurabesh. 

"Ah." Juliet said when she saw him. "He's waiting for you. Go right-" 

He swept past her without so much as a word, but did offer an intense glare. 

"-In." She finished with a sigh and a long-suffering roll of her eyes. 

"Dick." She muttered under her breath when he'd passed by. 

Two heavy doors, bearing the same bird of prey as the turbolift, silently opened onto an immaculate, elegant office that screamed wealth and opulence, from the polished floor and high-rise windows, to the collection of rare artifacts displayed along the walls. At the end of the office, with its back to one of the windows, rested another desk, smaller than the administrative desk outside, but even more handsomely designed. 

A man sat at the desk, seemingly poring over what appeared to be a detailed report of some kind. He was moderately rotund, with close-cropped, greying hair, and a pair of eye-glasses that - although he didn't need them - gave him the appearance of a scavenging bird, searching for its next meal. 

"Father." Nathan said in acknowledgement. 

For a moment, Sha'in Pris'kott didn't respond. Then, he looked up, and met his son's gaze - at least, as much as he could through the opaque visor of his son's helmet. 

"What have you done?" He asked, his voice low with thunderous anger. 

Nathan immediately bristled. "I deserved justice against those two little-" 

"I know what your feelings on the Jedi and the smuggler are." Sha'in cut him off. "And while I usually wouldn't care what petty things you concern yourself with in your own time. But when your _misguided_ actions threaten our position here, and I have to fix _your_ failures, it makes me question your worth."

"I don't under-" 

"No, of course you don't. Because you're too fucking stupid to consider the consequences of what you do. Not only did you fail to kill two measly little girls, but you failed to take your clan into account when you bombed a public building in _broad daylight._ You. Failed."

Sha'in held up the report he had been combing through. In it, a security log of Nathan striding through the square on Corellia and firing a missile at the cantina was clearly visible. 

"Do you have _any_ idea how much it cost to obtain this?" Sha'in seethed. "Much more than credits. No, it was our reputation you so arrogantly spent."

"No one could have known it was me." Nathan angrily retorted. "And how is what I did any different from you funding Chiaros' obsessive revenge mission?"

At this, Sha'in laughed derisively. "You think your petty need to get back at those two girls is equal to the centuries of oppression we've endured under the Jedi? Don't be naive. I funded Chiaros because he could have caused enough damage to set their Order back _decad_ es, and allow us to prosper as we haven't done in eons - and _you_ somehow let that fail too. More importantly, our involvement with him could never be traced back here, as unlike you, I took many, _many_ precautions."

"I took precautions!" Nathan whined. 

Sha'in scoffed. "Like what?" 

"I wore my helmet. No one saw my face."

Sha'in rested his head in his hands for a moment before continuing. "Your helmet." He said slowly. "That you had our clan insignia _physically carved into_."

At this, Nathan hesitated. "I-" He began. 

"Take that ridiculous thing off." Sha'in commanded. 

"What?" 

"You heard me. Take it off."

"Why?" Nathan stood his ground. 

"Because I am _ordering_ you to." 

For a moment, there was a stalemate. 

"Do not make me ask again." Sha'in pressed. "You know what the consequences are for disobeying me."

With a low growl, Nathan reached up, and - with the demeanor of a pouting teenager - removed his helmet. 

"Ah, there it is." Sha'in said coldly, narrowing his eyes. "The legacy of your failure."

Nathan turned his head in shame, attempting to hide the damage done to the left side of his face. His eye was entirely gone, replaced by cybernetics. Wiring leading into the back of his eye socket was visible, along with several small metal spikes that jutted into the flesh over his cheekbone. The rest of the left side was covered by a mass of angry, improperly healed red burn scars. It had healed badly enough that the melted flesh of his cheek had pulled the corner of his mouth into a ghastly rictus, partially exposing the tendons in his jaw. 

"Every time you look at yourself, I want you to remember that you, and _only you,_ are responsible for your current appearance, and thus, your failure. I want you to remember the pain you suffered, and every time you consider disobeying my wishes even by the merest inch, I want you to remember that I have the power here, not you."

"What does that mean?" Nathan continued to show defiance, though by this point, it was naught but an empty gesture. The hierarchy of power between him and his father had been clearly re-established. 

"It means," Sha'in emphasised, "That you will have to bear the shame of your appearance. You will receive no further healing, and your eye will remain as it is. No upgrades. You don't deserve it." 

"But-" 

"Now leave before I have you locked up for your idiocy." Sha'in concluded. 

"But I-" 

"Do not question your father and clan leader. Need I remind you: this is the way." 

For a moment, Nathan stood, quaking with rage. Then, sensing he'd lost this particular battle, capitulated. "Fine." He said. 

_"Say it."_ Sha'in enforced. 

"This is the way." Nathan growled. 

"Good. Get out of my sight."

Without a word, Nathan turned on his heel and swept out of the office. The turbolift trip back down felt like an eternity, during which Nathan cycled through the confrontation several dozen times in his head, sometimes focusing on one particular detail, and other times fantasising about how it might have gone differently. No one slighted him like that, not even his father. That fat old waste of flesh could go hang, as far as Nathan was concerned. 

He looked down at his helm. He still deserved it, he didn't care what anyone else had to say. 

In a pronounced, deliberate way, Nathan placed it back on his head. 

Fuck everyone else. He was right. He was _justified._

He'd kill anyone who said otherwise. 

* * *

Far above Mandalore, a YT-1200 model Corellian freighter, impossibly tiny against the void, dropped out of hyperspace with a muffled thump. 

"There it is." Chloe indicated the planet hanging below them. "Mandalore."

Max frowned. "It's so… plain." She observed. 

She was right. The planet itself was an unremarkable, yellowy-beige ball partially obscured by scattered cloud cover, with no visible water or distinguishing features to break up the otherwise endless landmass. 

"Yep." Chloe agreed. "Hard to imagine a psycho like Nathan coming from there, right?" 

Max nodded, still studying the planet beneath them. “What’s the plan?” She asked.

“Fly down. Land. Then find out where Nathan is and work out how to get to him.”

“And then?” 

A muscle in Chloe’s jaw twitched as she clenched it. “Then we kill him.”

Max shifted in her seat. Her expression faltered for a brief second.

Chloe looked at her, incredulously. “You _can’t_ be having second thoughts about that?”

“It’s just-”

“It’s just _what_ , Max? He tried to kill us. Two of our friends, and however many innocents, are dead because of him. And if we don’t permanently take him out of action, it’ll keep happening.” Chloe emphatically argued.

“I know, I know!” Max responded. “I just, I don’t know if I’m truly comfortable with this. With murder.”

“Is it though? Murder, that is.” Chloe said. 

Max saw she was being earnest. 

“We’re deliberately going down there to end his life.” Max reasoned.

“True, but it’s to stop him from doing more harm, which he will. The net positive here is far greater than the negative cost of killing one person.” Chloe argued.

Max frowned and bit her lip. As much as she tried to avoid premeditated violence due to the moral stances left over from being raised as a Jedi, Chloe did have a solid point.

She sighed and slumped back in her seat, frustrated. “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.” She said. “Though if there’s an option to not kill him, can we at least consider it?”

Chloe pursed her lips. “Fine. But for the record, I’d rather see him dead in a ditch.”

“I know.”

Chloe took a quick breath, then exhaled just as quickly. “Alright. I’m taking us down.”

She angled the stick downward and fully engaged the throttle. In less than a minute, the _Amber Star_ entered the upper atmosphere, cutting smoothly through thick grey clouds as it descended towards Mandalore’s surface. After a few minutes of flying, they dropped below the cloud cover, still a few thousand feet in the air.

“There.” Chloe announced, and nodded towards the cockpit viewport. 

Max followed the nod, and saw the great domed city nestled at the end of the canyon.

“That’s where we’re headed?” She asked.

“Yeah. Ebon’Vella. I’ll take us in for landing.”

“Wait!” Max held out a hand.

“What? What’s wrong?” 

“Can we land outside the city?”

“Sure, but, why?” Chloe asked.

“While we have the time, I’d like to have a memorial for ‘Ren.” Max said, quietly but firmly.

“Oh.” Chloe blinked. “Of course. You’re sure you’re okay with that? We can do it later if you need more-”

“No.” Max shook her head. “I don’t want to put it off. And besides,” She adopted a sardonic grimace, “We might not even survive today.”

Chloe raised an eyebrow. “And I thought _I_ was a pessimist.”

* * *

The _Amber Star_ landed in a cloud of dust and grit blown up by the engines. The landing gear settled onto the rocky ground with a soft thud, and moments later, the engines began to wind down.

A minute later, the landing ramp extended, and the airlock hissed open. Chloe emerged first, jogging down the ramp at a moderate pace and surveying the surrounding area for anything anomalous. Thankfully, everything appeared to be completely still for a few kilometres around the ship.

“We’re good!” She called back to the airlock.

After a few seconds, Max appeared, bearing the singular piece of astromech dome that was all that remained of her friend across her two open palms. She walked slowly, almost reverently.

“I thought over there might be good.” Chloe said when Max reached her, and pointed over to a patch of ground near the edge of the cliff they had landed on. 

Max nodded, and the two of them walked over. Chloe’s hand rested in the small of Max’s back: a comforting presence. 

They reached the edge of the cliff, which overlooked the lip of the canyon a few hundred metres away, as well as the grey sphere of the city, a couple or so kilometres in the distance. 

All in all, it wasn’t a bad view.

“How do you wanna do this?” Chloe gently prompted when Max remained silent for a few long moments.

“I … think I might have an idea.” Max eventually answered.

She held out a hand.

On the ground before them, a few feet before the edge of the cliff, the dusty surface rippled and shifted. Small cracks could be heard as Max willed the ground to move, forming a rectangular depression three feet deep, two feet high and one foot across. When it was fully formed, she knelt down and gently placed the piece of W4-R3N’s dome into the small burial hole. Then, Max reached into the Force again. The earth moved once more, flowing into the space and sealing W4-R3N away. When the hole was filled, it looked like it had never even been disturbed in the first place.

“Do you … want to say anything?” Chloe gently asked.

“Wait.” Max replied. “I’m not done.”

She stood and held out both hands - palms facing outwards - in front of her. A rumble could be heard, and the ground shook slightly, before Max raised her hands. A rectangular stone pillar rose out of the ground, seven feet in height, with a triangular, pointed tip at the top of the pillar.

It was an obelisk.

_Snap-hiss._

Max ignited her lightsaber, and slowly, with great care, burned W4-R3N’s designation into the surface of the obelisk.

“You were more than a droid.” She said, her voice barely a whisper. “You were my friend. Thank you, for everything.” 

And then Max walked away, shoulders shaking with the effort it took not to burst into tears.

“So long, buddy.” Chloe said, and patted the obelisk. Then, she joined Max.

“You okay?” Chloe asked, snaking an arm around Max’s shoulders. 

"No." Max admitted. "None of this would've happened if-" 

"Don't do that." Chloe interrupted. 

"Do what?" 

"Wonder about what could've been. It's hella easy to get lost in 'What If's'. Trust me, Max, I did the same thing with Rachel, and you can't let yourself become obsessed." 

"I won't." Max promised. "Sorry."

“Max. Babe. You don’t need to be sorry. You’ve got this.” Chloe drew her into a quick, but tight, hug. 

“Thanks.” Max returned the hug. 

“It can help if you just keep doing things.” Chloe continued. “Take one day at a time, fill it up with things to do, and gradually, you end up with a new normal. It still sucks, but it’s bearable.”

“I’ll try.” Max made a show of nodding. “Let’s start with getting into the city.” She turned in order to board the _Amber Star._

“Uh.” Chloe vocalised.

Max stopped in her tracks. “What?”

“It might be better if we walk.” Chloe pointed out. “Nathan knows my ship, and I’d rather not get blown out of the sky if it’s all the same to you.”

“Point taken.”

The walk to the city didn’t take long, and soon enough, Max and Chloe found themselves approaching the eastern edge of the city. A wide, multi-layered outer ring surrounded the dome itself, appearing to anchor the dome into the ground. In the sections where the ring extended out over the canyon, more support struts lanced out from the underside of the ring and into the canyon walls in order to stop the structure from buckling under its own weight. 

Situated along the ring were hundreds of landing platforms, with most of them occupied by variously sized ships. It was a massive hubbub of activity, with dozens of ships coming and going, creating a constant flow and a steady roar of engines. As the two women approached, they could see thousands of people milling about the layered rings, no doubt carrying out even more thousands of tasks. 

Not one soul paid them any attention as they reached a gently sloping walkway that led up to the first ringed tier: they didn't stick out among the crowd, and Max had taken care to hide her lightsaber inside her jacket. 

It took several minutes to climb the three tiers and make their way through the bustle of people, aliens and droids going about their business, but eventually they came to the inner edge of the final ring, where hundreds of entryways led into the bottom of the dome itself. 

"Which one do we go through?" Max asked, scanning the two dozen or so in their immediate vicinity. 

"I don't think it really matters." Chloe pointed out. "We don't exactly know where we're going yet."

"Fair."

"C'mon," Chloe took Max's hand and led her towards the closest entryway, which was thankfully unguarded, "Let's see what we're up against."

* * *

Nathan sat in his chambers, scowling. His volatile, angry mood was still present, and in no danger of dissipating any time soon. 

As much as he tried to prevent it, his father's words kept on reverberating around his head, like an unwelcome house guest. 

_"You. Failed."_ The words kept repeating, sounding like a drum in his mind. 

It bothered him that, when it concerned the smuggler and her whore, he couldn't deny his father's words. The simple fact of their continued existence was proof he hadn't succeeded in his attempt at revenge. 

Under the helmet, his lip curled. There had to be another way to get back at them, there just _had to be_ . Nathan’s leg began bouncing as he tried to think of ways to find Max and Chloe again, and how best to take them out _permanently._ He still had his freedoms, maybe he could-

The door to his chambers chimed softly, letting Nathan know he had a visitor.

“Yes?” He said impatiently.

The door whisked open, and Juliet walked in, looking like she was wishing she was literally anywhere else. Once she had entered, she inclined her head dutifully in a small bow. 

"What is it?" Nathan demanded. He declined to bow back. 

"Your father-" Juliet began. 

"What _about_ my father?" Nathan spat. 

“Your father,” Juliet repeated herself - internally adding _‘If you’d let me finish’,_ “Has instructions for you.” She said, and paused, in case Nathan interrupted her again.

“Well, what are they?” He said after a couple of seconds. “Spit it out.”

Juliet braced herself. “Upon further reflection, your father wishes for you to remain here. You are not to leave the city or the planet alone, and if you need to leave the citadel, you are to do so accompanied by armed guards.”

Nathan was silent for one long, charged moment. _“What?”_ He said, his voice low and venomous.

“He said you’re forbidden from-”

“I fucking heard you, you useless cunt!” Nathan screamed.

Juliet flinched, but continued to be as professional as she could. 

“Sh-shall I let your father know you’ve received his message?” She persevered. 

Nathan snarled, and Juliet knew exactly what expression was on his face, even through the helmet. It was one she’d seen far too many times over the last few years.

“Get out.” Nathan commanded.

“Get the _fuck_ **OUT**!” He screamed when she didn’t immediately retreat back through the door.

When she still didn’t move, Nathan surged to his feet and grabbed the nearest thing to hand - an expensive datapad - and flung it in a pure expression of rage.

It hit the wall next to her head, and shattered in a burst of glass, electronics and sparks. Juliet shrieked in fright and threw her arms over her head to protect herself from the various flying components, before turning on her heel and fleeing the room.

Breathing heavily, Nathan slowly sat back down.

“Bitch.” He murmured.

Out in the corridor, Juliet leaned against the wall, lest her legs give out from shock. Her breathing was heavy, her complexion ghostly pale. 

"I am _so_ done with that fucking psycho." She whispered to herself. 

Incidents like this were unfortunately common; it was practically every week that she would have to deal with yet another one of Nathan's childish tantrums. As such, the few weeks where he had been away dealing with that whole Jedi business had been both a blessing and enlightening for Juliet in terms of perspective. It was a long enough break for her to step back, and recognise she was close to reaching a breaking point. 

She took a deep breath, and tried to push away her lingering prediction that her employment with Nathan and his father would end in an exceedingly ugly fashion. 

Gingerly, she pushed herself off the wall and returned to her desk, where she grabbed her jacket. Taking a trip to the lower level to wander through the markers was her customary self-help when things like this happened, and she saw no reason to deviate from the habit. 

With an angry glance at Nathan's room, wherein the muffled sounds of angry mutterings could still be heard, Juliet swept out of the Citadel. 

* * *

Victoria abhorred silences. They were annoying, boring, and most of all: unproductive. 

As such, the silence that had immediately descended upon leaving the Council chambers and entering the turbolift proved to be particularly vexing, and halfway down the central spire, Victoria could stand it no longer. 

"So, Kate, is it? Victoria cast an eye over her designated partner for this investigation, taking in the mousy brown hair pulled up into a loose bun, standard Temple robes for an individual of Jedi Knight rank, and a humble but quietly graceful lightsaber - inlaid with dark green rings spanning the length of the hilt, and the symbol of the Jedi Order engraved on the pommel - hung from her belt. All in all, Victoria thought she didn't look like anything special. 

At Victoria's words, Kate nodded, smiling pleasantly. 

"How much do you know about this whole… thing?" Victoria asked, her line of questioning intending to suss out whether Kate would actually be of any use or not. 

"Oh, I've been fully briefed on every detail." Kate replied. “It’s strange to think that one such as Max - a Jedi who saved the entire Order - would be mixed up in something so serious as the death of a Master.”

Victoria raised an eyebrow. “So then you _don’t_ know everything.” She smirked. 

Kate gave her a confused look.

Victoria made a show of rolling her eyes. “You know how, after … urgh, _saving_ us, she just up and left?”

Kate hesitated before answering. “Yes. To be honest, I couldn’t figure it out. Why save the Temple and everyone in it, and then just … leave?”

“It’s because she broke the Code.” Victoria spat. “She fell for that smuggler girl, and broke the Code by forming an … attachment to her. I know that because I personally told the Council myself after I found her out., and they expelled her for it. And then, she goes and saves us from a _supposed_ Sith Lord - not that I believe that part - and is invited back to the Order, but still chooses to leave for some insane reason. Anyone who does all of that fits right into the death of a Jedi Master in my opinion.”

Kate blinked, her expression one of blatant shock at Victoria’s explanation. 

“I had no idea.” She said. “I want to give her the benefit of a doubt but … how can a Jedi just break the Code so easily? It’s what gives us purpose, strength, clarity. And above all prevents us from-” Kate paused, and lowered her voice, as if giving voice to the words she was about to say would imbue them with power, “-falling to the Dark Side.”

“Exactly.” Victoria agreed, glad that Kate immediately saw the problem. Maybe she would be useful, after all.

The turbolift reached the base of the spire, and the two Jedi emerged, with Kate taking the initiative and leading them towards the living quarters.

“We’re heading to her room?” Victoria questioned, having guessed their destination. “Shouldn’t we start by checking the holonet or something for any sightings of Jedi near Corellia?”

“We could.” Kate nodded. “But I have a good reason for going to her room. Trust me.”

Victoria raised an eyebrow again, but otherwise stayed silent. 

“You know, we do actually know each other.” Kate suddenly said.

“We do?” Victoria sounded surprised. 

“We were in the same youngling creche.” Kate said. “We had classes together with Master Yoda before we had our own Masters."

"Oh." Victoria felt vaguely embarrassed. "I, uh, don't really remember that far back all that much, sorry."

"It's okay." Kate's pleasant smile appeared again. "Not many people do. I only remember it because, well, I admired you."

“You did?” At first, Victoria didn’t quite know what to do with this information, but then quickly processed and dealt with it, filing it away in the section of her brain dedicated to mildly interesting information. However, before she could respond, Kate spoke again.

“Of course I did. You were easily at the head of the class, even though we were so young. And everything I’ve heard about you over the years, from Masters to Padawans - and even the Temple guards … you’re everything a Jedi should be.” Kate enthused, practically singing Victoria’s praises.

“Well, I don’t know about _that_.” Victoria made a small show of appearing to be humble, even if, privately, Kate’s words struck true to how she perceived herself - mostly. “I just try to give my best to everything I do.”

“Exactly as a Jedi should.” Kate’s smile grew wider, distractingly so. 

Victoria narrowed her eyes by an almost imperceptible amount. Was Kate just being polite or had Victoria genuinely made such a big impression on her? But before she could think of a line of questioning that would determine which one it was, Kate stopped abruptly outside of a standard Temple living quarters door.

“We’re here.” She stated.

“After you.” Victoria gestured lazily towards the door. 

Kate nodded and waved a hand at the locking mechanism. It opened with a soft click, and the door slid gracefully out of the way. Silently, Kate swept into the room. Victoria followed, looking idly around the space that Max had previously lived in. It was, essentially, completely bare. There was nothing to indicate a living being had previously resided here: no possessions, clothes, or even bedding. Max’s quarters must have been cleaned out of what little remained after she had left. 

“Well, I don’t know what you’re hoping to find here, but, I can’t see anything relevant.” Victoria declared. 

“It’s not about seeing.” Kate said quietly. “It’s about feeling.” 

She walked slowly around the perimeter of the room, trailing a hand through the air, as if tracing invisible strands of energy. In fact, Victoria realised that must have been exactly what she was doing.

“Can you sense her?” Victoria asked.

Kate nodded. “Yes. I … have a talent for sensing.” She cryptically remarked, and crossed into the middle of the room, where she stood in the direct centre, and closed her eyes.

“Everyone has a Force signature.” Kate began to explain. “And anyone who is Force sensitive always has a strong one. If I know what that signature feels like, I can sense where it is, even if it’s entire systems away. And if it’s a particularly strong signature, it’s even easier to track them.”

“So you brought us here because there might be remnants of Max’s signature.” Victoria reasoned.

“Exactly. Another thing is, depending on if the person the signature belongs felt particularly strongly about, well, anything at all, that boosts the signature even further. So what you told me about Max and her having… feelings for that woman-”

“Will turn this into an exceedingly simple job.” Victoria finished for her.

“Hopefully.” Kate agreed. 

She raised her hands, and let herself sink into the Force.

Instantaneously, Kate felt a barrage of emotion: anger, passion, confusion and a multitude of others all rolled into a whirling ball of Force energy. It was so much that she had to stop herself from staggering. But, with no small amount of determination, Kate picked through the ball to find the strongest threads, and found one that glowed brighter than the rest.

With eyes still closed, she followed it, letting it lead her across the room, until her shins hit the edge of the bed. Kate reached out, both with her mind and her hand. As her fingers made contact with the bed, she realised why the thread had been much easier to follow: it was Max’s feelings for Chloe, imbued into the Force itself. 

“Oh.” Kate whispered. It felt shockingly intimate, as if she was experiencing those feelings herself. It was an explosion of uncontrolled emotion, far more than simple romantic attraction: it contained an overwhelming abundance of love and the frustration of being unable to express it, and no small degree of sexual attraction.

Above all else, it created a signature so strong Kate felt as if Max were in the room with her, consummating her love for Chloe right next to her. With a titanic effort, Kate wrenched her inward gaze away from the unchecked emotions, and cast her mind outwards, seeking for any signs of Max’s energy signature. 

And out there among the stars, blazing like a beacon, she found it.

Not an instant later, Kate felt her knees buckling from the effort, and she would have fallen to the floor had Victoria not sped forward with Force-assisted speed and caught her. However, at the instant of contact, Victoria cried out when, through the Force, she felt everything Kate had and was still experiencing.

The shock of it was too much, and the two Jedi collapsed in a heap on the floor, both breathing harsh, ragged breaths.

“What. Was that.” Victoria managed to force out after a few seconds.

“I’m sorry!” Kate lamented. “I should’ve told you not to touch me. If people do, sometimes there can be a … transference.”

“A transference?” 

“Yes. Of emotions, feelings, and anything else that the subject’s Force signature gives off. I’m really sorry, I didn’t think to warn you beforehand.” Kate looked legitimately guilty.

“It’s fine.” Victoria brushed herself off and got to her feet. She extended a hand to Kate, who took it and let Victoria hoist her up. “It’s nothing I couldn’t handle.” She said when they were both standing, although that wasn’t entirely true. 

Frankly, Victoria felt like the floor had been taken out from under her. The last time she had felt so rattled had been when Max had given her that perplexing hug, and thanked her all those months ago. Victoria had spent long hours, staying up well into the middle of the night trying to decipher exactly what Max had meant, only she could never find a satisfactory answer. 

“Did it work?” Victoria asked. “Don’t tell me all that was for nothing.”

“It did.” Kate confirmed. “I know where she is.”

“Where?”

“She’s on Mandalore.”

“Well, then.” Victoria cracked a dangerous looking grin. 

“Let’s get started.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, sorry again for taking so long. I talked about this in my other most recent story, We Know You're Watching, but I think it bears repeating. I moved country a few months ago, and had to deal with that as well as all the complications this hellscape of a year threw at us - lemme tell you, moving country is complicated even without a global pandemic to get in the way. As well as that, I pretty much lost all motivation to write due to some pretty fuckin' excruciating writer's block, and a couple of other factors. 
> 
> This chapter is also incredibly important to the plot going forward, so I wasn't going to publish until I knew it was doing exactly what I needed it to. All of that added up to about 7 months of delays, which obviously sucks. My sincerest apologies to everyone who was looking forward to this story continuing, and I'll try to get Episode V out much faster.
> 
> Hopefully, the wait was at least partially worth it. As ever, leave a comment if you have any feedback, otherwise I'll see you all next time. MTFBHWY.


	5. Episode V - Connections

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know right? I managed to not take months to write a new chapter. 
> 
> Longer note down below, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

**Episode V**

**Connections**

  
  


At first, all Max could do was stare. 

The lower city of Ebon'Vella stretched out before her, staggering in its complex density. Even with having lived all her life on Coruscant - and including her one and only trip to level 1313 - Max had never seen anything quite like it. 

The lower city sat in permanent semi-darkness, caused by the upper city resting directly above it. As such, it was mostly lit by an uncountable amount of neon lights and holograms, giving the entire city an unreal, dream-like diffused glow as the thousands of hard-edged sources of neon illumination bled into the constant layer of smoke, steam and other vapours that softly blanketed the undercity. 

"Wow." Max said. The singular expression didn't convey the magnitude of just how awestruck she was by the city, but it would have to do. 

"Yeah, it's quite somethin'." Chloe said as she came up to stand at Max's side. 

“It’s like Coruscant on steroids.” Max observed.

They stood for another minute, simply taking in the sights of the undercity.

"Have you been here before?" Max eventually asked. 

"Once." Chloe answered. "I wasn't a fan."

Max frowned. "Why?" 

"You'll see." Chloe answered grimly. 

Max frowned, but didn’t press any further at the current moment. "So where do we find Nathan?" She asked. 

Chloe nodded in the direction of the upper city. "Way the fuck up there."

Max's frown configured itself into a look of confusion. "Then why are we down here?" 

Chloe gave her a look possessed of massive amounts of 'oh, my sweet summer child' energy. 

"Dude, there's no way we can just waltz into the upper city, no without knowing someone up there, or having the right clearance. We have neither."

"Okay so, my next question is: how do we get up there?" 

"Ah." Chloe at least had the sense to look a little sheepish. "That's the part I don't know yet."

Max folded her arms. "So we have no solid plan."

"That's not  _ entirely  _ true." Chloe protested. "I'm sure if we poke around enough we'll find someone who can get us up there."

"How? We know literally no one here."

For a moment, Chloe was stymied. Then, she cracked a wide grin and said "We'll use the Force!" 

Max stood, incredulous. 

"That's not how the Force works!" She blurted out. 

"You got a better idea?" Chloe said with a shrug. 

"... No."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Chloe turned and made for the nearest walkway that led into the undercity. 

With a shake of her head and a roll of her eyes, Max followed. 

As they walked, Max couldn't help but gawk. Ebon'Vella was so vastly different to Coruscant. The first immediately noticeable difference was the architecture: instead of the elegant, art-deco curves of Coruscant's skyscrapers, cubes and straight lines dominated. The difference was jarring, but not unpleasantly so. Had it not been for the hustle, bustle, and overly cramped conditions in general, Max might have called it beautiful. 

The second difference was, as Max had already noted, just how cramped everything was - an impression perhaps heightened by the architecture, and how everything appeared to be designed to slot together. It seemed like there wasn't an inch of space to spare between the dense crowds of humans, aliens, droids and everything in between, and the various dwellings, stalls, stores, dineries, dive bars and other such places that made up the vast majority of the undercity. 

As for the people, Max observed an unusually frequent percentage sporting some degree of mechanical enhancement. She mentally estimated at least a quarter of everyone she saw had some kind of artificial replacement arm, eye, leg… A couple of citizens even had fully artificial bodies with their still organic heads attached.

"What's with all the upgrades?" She asked Chloe, nodding at the closest person: a twi'lek who had had her entire lower jaw replaced with cybernetics. 

"Class statement." Chloe answered. "If you can afford any kind of cybernetic replacement, it means you're doing about as well as you can be down here. Though of course that means there's a secondary market for cheaper, back-alley 'upgrades'. See?" She indicated a rodian whose artificial eye was performing a half spin in its socket every few seconds. 

"Well, at least you'll fit right in." Max dryly observed, and gave Chloe's mechanical arm a poke. 

"True." Chloe agreed. "Might actually help us fit in." She cast an eye over Max. "Can't do much about you though."

"I mean, I'm not exactly gonna hack my own arm off. And I look like a regular person, don't I?" Max said. 

Chloe made a face. 

"Wha- how do I not?" Max protested. 

"It's the way you carry yourself." Chloe explained. "You just look too… self-assured."

"Too self-assured?" Max echoed. "What does that even mean?" 

"It's your body language. You just don't look, well, downtrodden enough to be from here."

"Oh." Max was taken aback. "Is it really that bad?" 

"Kinda, yeah. Again, you'll see."

Max thought for a second. "When was it you came here before? Was it with Rachel?" 

Chloe nodded. "Yeah, it was. We had a gig here - unrelated to the whole Jedi thing, this was about a year before. We, uh, didn't stay long."

Before Max could ask why, a commotion up ahead distracted the both of them. A mandalorian, clad in armour the same blood-red tint as Nathan's, but helmet-less, was accosting a stall owner and his partner who, judging by their defensive, hurried gesticulating, were clearly being extorted in some way.

As they watched, the mandalorian drew back his fist and struck the stall owner directly in the face, breaking his nose. Blood spattered over his gloved fist, staining the leather. The mandalorian took a step back, looked down at his fist, then back up at the owner. From the look of disgust on his face, he seemed to have taken affront to the blood splatter - even though it had been his fault - so much so that he raised his arm and fired a short burst from his flamethrower. 

The owner's hair immediately caught fire. He screamed, slapping frantically at his head. The mandalorian simply laughed, and turned away. The owner's partner - a male zabrak who must have been his husband- rushed over to help, throwing a blanket over his head in an effort to put out the flames. 

Max started forward, her hand automatically beginning to move towards the inner pocket of her jacket, where her lightsaber was safely nestled. However, her path was blocked by Chloe throwing an arm out. 

"Don't." Chloe shook her head.

"But these people need help! I can-" 

"No." Chloe stood firm. "If you interfere, that'll just bring more attention than we want down on us. And if Nathan finds out we're here, we'll never be able to get anywhere near him ever again."

"But-!"

"Max." Chloe swiveled the ex-Jedi round and grabbed both of her shoulders. "Do you want to help the people here?" 

"Of course!" 

"Then we do so by killing that sonofabitch. Trust me, it's the best we can do."

Max bit her lip. Chloe, as always, had a point. Removing Nathan from the equation was the best, most efficient way of ensuring the people of Ebon’Vella wouldn’t come to - too much - future harm.

She nodded. “Okay.”

“C’mon. We should go.” Chloe gestured towards the deeper parts of the city.

With a noticeable effort, Max turned away from where the stall owner was still being comforted by his husband, and followed Chloe into the bustling crowds of the undercity.

As they walked, Max began to notice things she hadn’t before: how people lowered their heads when mandalorian guards swept by on patrols, lest they inadvertently make eye contact with a power-tripping guard, or how they glanced suspiciously at anything that wasn’t familiar - which naturally included Max. She tried altering her posture to walk in a way that was a little more stooped, but it didn’t come naturally to her at all, and only made her stand out all the more.

So preoccupied was she with trying to fit in, Max didn't notice a figure roughly two thirds of her height scurrying through the crowd until it was too late. She collided with the figure - an alien species she didn't recognise - toppling them to the ground. The alien chittered at her in an unfamiliar language, evidently angry at Max's carelessness. 

"I'm sorry!" Max immediately apologised. "Here, let me help you."

She bent down and offered her hand to the alien, who reached up to take it. As they did so, Max's jacket hung open, enough to give the alien a glimpse of the lightsaber nestled inside. 

Their eyes went wide, and they dropped their hand as if burned, frantically trying to shuffle backwards. 

" _J_ _ eedai! Jeedai _ !" They screeched, pointing at Max.

“Wha- no! No-no!” Max frantically waved her hands in front of her, trying desperately to convey to the being that she was not, in fact, a Jedi.

They ignored her efforts, continuing to shriek  _ “Jeedai!”  _ and backing away. By now, some of the crowd had noticed, and murmurs were beginning to spread from person to person.

“Shit!” Chloe swore. She looked around in an attempt to see if any guards had noticed the commotion. Unfortunately, an entire squad had, and were beginning to make their way over.

“Max, we need to go  _ now! _ ” She gripped Max’s shoulder and squeezed, hard.

“Wait!” Max insisted, having not seen the guards yet. “I can-”

_ “JEEDAI!”  _

“-Fix this.”

Panic gripped Chloe. “Max!” She hissed. “You-”

She never got to finish her sentence. Someone, a stranger, darted out of the crowd and gripped her arm, pulling her violently away. Chloe was only just able to do the same to Max, leaving the still-screaming alien behind just as the guards forced their way through the crowd.

The stranger led them down alley after alley, through turn after twisted turn until, a couple of minutes later, she stopped, assessed their surroundings, and after a few seconds, nodded.

“That should be enough.” She said. 

Chloe unclipped her blaster and drew it, though she kept it at her side.

“Who are you?” She demanded.

“Someone willing to help. Maybe.” The woman answered.

“And you expect us to trust you’re being honest?” Chloe responded with incredulity.

“No, but-”

“She is.” Max said. “Being honest, that is. I can feel it.”

The stranger looked at Max, her face betraying curiosity and … was that eagerness?

“Is she …” The stranger glanced around, and lowered her voice. “Is she a Jedi?”

Chloe looked at Max. A silent conversation passed between them.

_ Can we trust her? _

_ I don’t think we have a choice. _

Chloe sighed, but nodded to indicate Max should go ahead.

“Ex-Jedi.” Max answered.

“That’s…” The stranger began to say, but stopped herself. She looked like she was rapidly calculating scenarios.

“Follow me.” She said, suddenly appearing to come to a decision. “I think we have a lot to talk about.”

* * *

Victoria sat in the co-pilot’s chair, staring without really seeing out into the mottled blue, white and black whirl of hyperspace. She had always found hyperspace exceedingly dull, and this occasion was no exception. Usually, there was nothing to do but wait, which was almost always guaranteed with the ships the Temple provided.

The ship that had been assigned to her and Kate was no exception. It was a plain, cramped, two person vessel with barely enough room for a bunk bed, a meager storage space, and a sonic shower. Upon seeing it, Victoria had immediately had to fight an urge to turn her nose up at it. Kate, however, didn’t seem bothered by the ship’s … spectacular mundanity. 

Victoria internally sighed. There was no entertainment to be found on the ship either, which had directly led to her current situation - first mate of the most boring ship in the Galaxy.

It was the boredom that was getting to her the most; boredom meant thinking, and thinking, these days, almost always had a habit of bringing her mind back to the irritating presence of Max Starfield.

Although Victoria was loath to admit it, the tumultuous maelstrom of emotional energy Kate had inadvertently brought her into back in Max’s old room had rattled her, and rattled her hard. 

It had only been for a moment, but Victoria had  _ felt _ the bond between Max and Chloe - and how the base foundation of that bond was undeniably  _ love _ . 

Victoria had never felt anything quite like it. 

And with having felt it, came cold, terrifying clarity. Now, Victoria knew exactly why Max had chosen to leave the Order. Love like that had to be … intoxicating. 

For a split-second, Victoria found herself wishing that maybe, someday, in a world where the Jedi Code didn’t exist, she could have something similar. And then, when that split-second had passed, felt nothing but disgust at the notion. Clearly, she was simply suffering from some lingering after-effects of Kate’s abilities, that was all.

“You know, you do that really well.” 

The sound of Kate’s voice came as a shock after spending the last - how long had it been? Victoria didn’t even know - length of time preoccupied with so many troubling thoughts she didn’t want to have.

“Do what?” Victoria said, narrowing her eyes.

“Sit there and brood.” Kate replied. 

"I'm not brooding." She snapped. 

"You're sitting in a chair, staring at nothing, and scowling every few seconds. You're brooding." 

"I am  _ not-"  _

"Remember to be mindful of your anger." Kate admonished her, somehow reminding Victoria of Master Yoda, even though she looked nor sounded nothing like the diminutive green Jedi Master. 

Victoria opened her mouth to snap back, but thought better of it, and instead took a long, deep breath in. Kate was right. She was getting riled up over nothing. 

"Thank you." She said, when she had forced the anger back down. 

Kate nodded in acknowledgement. "You were thinking about Max." She stated.

Victoria blinked. Had it been that obvious? 

"How did you-" 

For a second, Victoria thought Kate looked guilty. 

"It's…" She began, "If there's a transference, like there was earlier, there's sometimes a… possibility… that I can tell what the transferee is thinking or feeling."

"But don't worry!" Kate hastily added when Victoria immediately looked troubled. "It's only supposed to last a few hours. A day at most."

_ "Supposed to?"  _ Victoria said, specifically using Kate's own language. 

"It's never happened to me before, so yes. Supposed to."

"Well, it better only be a few hours." Victoria grumbled. "I don't want you in my head."

"Sorry." Kate mumbled. 

An awkward quiet descended, turning the already sullen atmosphere into something thick and suffocating. 

After a few minutes of silence - which, obviously, Victoria naturally hated - she glanced over at Kate, who was fidgeting in her seat, and clearly dying to say something. 

"What?" Victoria said. 

"It's nothing." Kate said, not managing to make the lie convincing in the slightest. 

"Bullshit." Victoria called her bluff. "Spit it out already. We've still got-" She checked the navicomp "- Five hours before we get to Mandalore, and I do  _ not  _ want to spend that time having you fretting about… whatever it is you're fretting about."

"Max made a bad choice." Kate blurted out. "She was selfish."

"... Go on." Victoria sat back, intrigued. 

"Having felt what Max felt, I think she chose the quick and easy route." Kate explained. "Any real Jedi would have stayed and rejoined the Order. We're meant to be selfless, and Max chose herself over her peers, her Code, and the Will of the Force."

Finally. Something Victoria thought she could agree with. 

"You got that right." She replied.

The two of them shared a smile, the first one of the mission. 

However, unwelcome thoughts were still lingering in Victoria's mind. Another few minutes went by, until the urge to give voice to those thoughts became unbearable. 

"It's just…" She said, "When Max left. She… hugged me, and said I'd played a part in her choosing her feelings over the Order. She said I wouldn't understand. But now that I've literally felt her emotions, I  _ do  _ understand. I understand why she left, why she chose Chloe. I don't agree with it, but experiencing that kind of love  _ with  _ someone must be…" Victoria waved her arms in a general way to indicate the words she suddenly had trouble fathoming.

"You know what I mean?" Victoria finished, exasperation written across her face. 

For a long moment, Kate was silent. "I do know what you mean." She said eventually. "Because I felt those emotions too. And they were  _ powerful.  _ So powerful. But it wouldn't be the Jedi way to let anything like that overcome us. Yes, love is important. It's important to everyone in the Galaxy, and I'm not saying Jedi should be against it. But the love we're meant to champion is  _ compassionate  _ love for everyone else, not selfish love. It's what drives us to defend not only the innocent, but peace and justice across the Galaxy. Max chose to abandon that responsibility, and therefore we can't trust her."

"Right." Victoria nodded. "Obviously we can't trust her."

Then, Kate surprised her by leaning over and lightly resting a hand on Victoria's shoulder. "Remember, the Code is there to protect us, not shackle us. And if you ever have doubts, I'd be happy to talk to you about them."

"You would?" Victoria was surprised. 

"Of course." Kate smiled. "I did say I admired you, and I still do, because you're a  _ good Jedi _ . But that doesn't mean good Jedi don't need help occasionally."

"Thank you." Victoria said, finding she honestly meant it. Internally, she felt a bubble of positive energy form in her belly. 

"See?" Kate grinned. "You're feeling better already."

As soon as Kate finished her sentence, Victoria felt something, similar to her own bubble, but not within her. Instead, it came from Kate. It surprised her, but the other Jedi had said the effects of the transference could last a while. 

Victoria dismissed it from her mind, failing to notice Kate had never said anything about the transference going  _ both  _ ways… 

* * *

The stranger led them through street after heaving street, winding her way expertly through the milling crowds like a vibroblade through synth-butter. Max and Chloe, however, had less luck, and the stranger was forced to stop and wait for them to extract themselves out of particularly heavy areas of the crowds several times. 

Eventually - and thankfully, in Max's opinion - the stranger finally stopped. 

"We're here." She said. 

_ Here _ was an out-of-the-way, slightly run down looking bar, sequestered away from the main thoroughfare in such a way that implied that, if you didn’t already know where it was, you would never find it.

The stranger walked right in and veered off to the right, heading for a table tucked away in a dimly lit corner. She sat herself down, and motioned for Max and Chloe to do the same. They did, although Chloe kept one hand on her thigh, close to her blaster.

“Probably didn’t need to bring you to the quietest table.” The stranger said. “It’s not exactly heaving in here,” She gestured to the rest of the bar, which - aside from a couple of inebriated looking patrons - was deserted, “But if you two are who I think you are, secrecy right now would be our friend.”

At this, Chloe narrowed her eyes. “I’m gonna need to know just who you think we are, and  _ how _ you know. Right now.” Her hand crept a couple of inches closer to her blaster.

“Please, there’s no need for violence.” The stranger said, her eyes flicking down to Chloe’s thigh holster. “I believe we can help one another.”

“Who’s this  _ ‘we’  _ you’re talking about?” Chloe insisted. “You better start giving us some answers or my next sentence won’t be so friendly.”

“Chloe, at least have enough patience to hear her out.” Max interjected. She turned to the stranger and gave her a polite smile. “I think what my partner is trying to say is, we’d appreciate knowing your name, at least, before we go any further.”

The stranger nodded in understanding. “My name is Juliet, and as for how I know who you are…” Juliet glanced furtively around the bar, before unfastening the clips on her jacket and opening it, revealing the sigil of Clan Pris’Kott.

Chloe’s eyes immediately went wide. In a flash, she drew her blaster and aimed it directly at Juliet, with the barrel hovering only a half-inch from Juliet’s forehead. 

“She works for Nathan!” Chloe growled at Max, before turning an accusing glare to Juliet.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t put a hole in your fucking head right this second!” Chloe’s finger twitched on the trigger.

“Chloe!” Max exclaimed. 

"We can't trust her, Max!" 

"I'm not asking you to trust me." Juliet answered, who didn't appear to be phased by Chloe pointing a deadly weapon at her head. "I'm asking you to let me  _ help  _ you."

"Bantha poodoo." Chloe shook her head and tightened the grip on her blaster. "Why would anyone who works for that fucking psycho help us? You're lying."

"If you let me  _ explain- _ " 

"Fuck your explanations."

“Chloe.” Max laid a hand on Chloe’s upper arm. “Let’s just hear her out. She could be legit.”

Chloe’s facial expression twitched, but otherwise, she kept the blaster level.”

“Please. For me.” Max said, basically pleading at this point.

“Urgh! Fine!” Chloe angrily shoved her blaster back in its holster. “But if I get even the slightest fucking suspicion you’re not being on the level with us, we’re leaving.”

“Understood.” Juliet nodded.

“Alright.” Chloe fixed Juliet with an intense stare. “Talk.”

“You’re right about him.” Juliet began. “Nathan  _ is  _ completely psychotic. I’ve had to deal with him -and his father, who’s also a huge piece of work - for years, and for every second of that time, he’s been an abusive, entitled, privileged asshole with the emotional intelligence of a child, and the tantrums of one, too. Honestly, I only work for him because I’m so fucking  _ scared  _ of what he would do to me if I quit.”

Juliet paused. Her voice had begun to shake.

“I’m just - just so tired of literally fearing for my well-being every time I go to work!” She said, emotion rising in her voice with each passing word. “And it’s  _ constant, _ it really is. Like, literally an hour ago, he threw a fucking datapad at my head! Things like that happen  _ every single week  _ with him. And I think - when he was away for a few weeks helping out that  _ other  _ psycho with the robes and the mask-”

At the mention of Darth Chiaros, Max and Chloe raised an eyebrow at each other.

“- I realised that, I’m just so fucking done with the Pris’Kotts and their nerfshit, because those few weeks were the happiest I’ve been in  _ so long _ , and I’d give  _ anything _ to feel that way again; to be able to look over my shoulder without fearing that someday he might just snap and …  _ do something  _ to me, and if it’s within my power to do anything to - to change that, I don’t think I could live with myself if I didn’t at least try.”

“Fuck.” Chloe whispered when Juliet paused to take a breath before continuing.

“And then when I saw you two here, the two women who he’s been ranting about for months, the two women who  _ beat him _ , I saw a chance to make that change. So I’m begging you:  _ please  _ let me help you.”

When Juliet finished stating her case, she fell silent, evidently trying her hardest not to break down completely. Seeing her emotional distress, Max reached out and placed a hand over Juliet’s. She initially flinched at the contact, but relaxed after a few seconds. 

“Thank you.” She said to Max. “I’m sorry I got so worked up. I think I’ve been bottling that up for a while.”

“It’s okay.” Max reassured her. “You obviously have a lot of built up trauma, and processing that might be difficult.”

“Trust me, I know.” Juliet laughed derisively. “I’m gonna need so much fucking therapy after this.”

“Tell me about it.” Chloe made a face like she’d eaten something sour. “Nathan has a way of giving people a shit-ton of issues.”

“Are you actually here to …  _ deal  _ with him? Please, tell me you are.” Juliet said, sounding like she was imploring them.

Max looked to Chloe for confirmation, who firmly nodded.

“Yeah. We’re gonna kill him.” Chloe said, before Max could say anything about the possibility of peacefully removing Nathan from his position of power. Even though Chloe was so adamant that Nathan deserved death, the notion of cold-blooded murder, even as a way to objectively improve the lives of what was probably a great many people, set off a twinge of unease inside her.

At Chloe’s statement, Juliet’s brows hardened into a sharp line. 

“Good.” She said, and found she meant it. 

“We need a way into the upper city, and into the Citadel.” Chloe said. “If you can help us with that, we can take care of the rest.”

Juliet’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, I can definitely help you with that part.” She said with a dangerous looking smile. “Follow me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, not a very action packed chapter (no action at all, in fact), but still, this chapter does set up a lot of things (again). That said, next chapter should be exciting. 
> 
> I actually enjoyed writing Juliet a lot more than I thought I would. You can definitely expect to see more of her in future chapters. Oh and I hope you all enjoyed the Kate and Vicky stuff, because I'm loving writing that as well.
> 
> I'm trying to stick to a one-chapter-a-month deal, as well as having *slightly* shorter chapters (if you can call 4k words short), as I think it helps my flow.
> 
> As ever, leave a comment if you have any feedback or wanna chat shit about Star Wars, LiS, or anything else. MTFBHWY.


	6. Episode VI - Principles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear lord this chapter turned out to be much bigger than I thought it was gonna be. See you folks at the end.

**Episode VI**

**Principles**

  
  


"How long have we got left?" Victoria sighed. 

Kate glanced at the navicomp. "Two hours still."

"Urgh!" Victoria groaned in a combination of frustration and boredom. "This is taking  _ far  _ too long!" She whined, spinning her chair around for emphasis. 

"Patience." Kate said; the epitome of calm and collected. "Be mindful of your surroundings."

"What surroundings?" Victoria gesticulated at the ever-present mottled hyperspace whirl outside of the cockpit viewport. "It's just hyperspace out there, and that isn't going anywhere."

Kate gave a non-committal tilt of the head. “In that case, be mindful of your thoughts. Jedi are meant to be patient.” 

"Come on, you must be at least a little bit bored." Victoria pressed. "There's literally nothing to do here."

"On the contrary. There's plenty to do." Kate countered. 

Victoria crossed her arms. "Like what?" 

"Meditate."

"You can't be serious." Victoria raised an incredulous eyebrow. 

"I am." Kate offered another unwavering, polite smile. "In fact, considering we're walking into what may be a highly volatile situation, I'd advise it. Going in with a clear mind could make all the difference."

Victoria rose from her seat. “You’re right: we could have a fight on our hands. And if it’s a fight we’re gonna have, I’d rather be  _ physically  _ prepared. So you can meditate all you want. I’m going to find something that’ll make me sweat.” 

With that declaration, Victoria swept out of the cockpit. After a little searching, she found a durasteel bar hidden away in one of the ship's few storage compartments. She briefly examined it, and determined it was about the same width as the doorway into the cockpit. 

Victoria smiled to herself. Even if Kate was unimpressed by her unwillingness to meditate, there was no doubt Victoria's physical prowess would impress her. 

_ Wait, since when do I care what she thinks?  _ Victoria thought.  _ I don't have anything to prove.  _

Just then, she felt something: a flicker of emotion not her own. It felt like… amusement? Or at least something vaguely similar. 

Victoria frowned. Where had it come from? 

"Seeking a colleague's approval, under these circumstances, is completely normal." Kate's voice came, shocking Victoria out of her thoughts. "It's part of learning to work together."

Victoria narrowed her eyes. "Are you in my head? Is this the transference thing again?" 

"Oh. Yes. Sorry." To her credit, Kate did look legitimately guilty. 

Victoria clenched her jaw, the muscles under the skin visibly twitching. "If it is the transference, why could I feel what you were feeling?" 

For a moment, Kate looked visibly shocked. Then, she composed herself, and with some effort, regained a purely neutral expression. 

"I'm… not entirely sure." She admitted. "It must be an undocumented temporary side effect."

"Let's hope it is." Victoria scowled. "I don't want to feel two people's worth of emotions." With a scowl, she got to her feet. “I thought you were going to meditate?”

“I am. I just - I wanted to make sure you were okay first.”

“I’m flattered.” Victoria said, sarcastically. “Now can I get back to what I was doing, please?”

“I-” Kate began to say, but apparently thought better and clamped her mouth shut.

Victoria ignored her and held the bar up to the doorway. She decided that, yes, it would fit, and proceeded to wedge it into the frame, about two feet above her head. Then, she shucked off her outer robe, revealing the inner tunic to be one of the lighter, sleeveless varieties favoured by Jedi who often anticipated action.

She stretched, windmilling her arms a few times to get her blood flowing, and then positioned herself under the bar.

“Hup!” 

Victoria grasped the bar in an underhanded grip and pulled herself up, held herself at the apex for a second, then lowered herself back down - without touching the floor. Without pausing, Victoria repeated the action, immediately setting a swift, rhythmic pattern: up, pause, down, repeat. 

In no time at all, her arms were visibly coated with a sheen of sweat, highlighting the sharp contours of her biceps, triceps and shoulders as the muscles clenched and shifted beneath the skin. 

Victoria grunted in exertion, feeling a welcome rush as her body began to produce a familiar mix of dopamine and endorphins. Exercise was a habit she would usually fall back on if she didn't have anything to do, often on top of the normal exercise routine the Temple heavily encouraged - Jedi did lead an active lifestyle, after all. 

As such, Victoria was both extremely in shape and exceedingly body confident. Jedi weren’t theoretically supposed to be vain, but the sleeveless tunic was the one concession she allowed herself: her arms looked damn good, so why not show them off a little? It wasn’t as if she was walking around in a crop top and shorts or something like that. Besides, it clearly communicated that Victoria took care of herself, which was obviously a positive to, well, everyone.

It wasn’t long before Victoria - and her workout - got a response from Kate. It wasn’t verbal, as Victoria had been hoping. Instead, Victoria again felt an external flutter of Kate’s emotions. This time, they communicated a sense of admiration, clearly focused on Victoria’s physical form, and also … was that envy underneath? It certainly felt a little like it. Envy mixed with something Victoria couldn’t quite identify. Still, what did it matter? Victoria’s little show had clearly gained her the result she desired.

Victoria felt a flash of satisfaction, and smiled to herself.

Alas, the sense of satisfaction was short lived, as Victoria had failed to notice the bar edging itself loose from its place in the doorframe.

With a grating, wrenching sound, it popped out of the frame, suddenly dropping Victoria towards the floor just as she reached the top of another crunch. She yelped in surprise, having been - foolishly - completely unprepared for such an outcome, although her brain still had time to prepare for the inevitable pain she would undoubtedly feel upon hitting the floor.

Only, it never came.

Victoria found herself suspended, held aloft a few centimetres above the floor by an invisible grip. She twisted round to look behind her, and saw Kate, hand outstretched, her polite smile now tinged with amusement.

“You can let me down now.” Victoria said, trying not to scowl.

“As you wish.” Kate lowered her the last few centimetres to the floor, depositing Victoria gently but decisively on her butt.

Victoria immediately got to her feet, and found she could look anywhere but at Kate as a rush of embarrassment took hold of her. Horrified that her senses would betray her in such a way, she violently shoved the feeling back down. 

"Victoria, it's fine, you don't need to feel embarrassed." Kate said in a manner she clearly thought was reassuring. 

"I am  _ not- _ " Victoria huffed, but midway through her sentence, thought better of acting antagonistically. Kate was only reacting to what she was feeling through the transference, after all. Instead she took a deep breath, and calmed herself. 

"Thank you." Victoria said, and found she meant it. She looked down at the hard, unforgiving metal grating of the floor, then back at Kate. "You really saved my butt there."

"It was nothing, really." Kate said, pleasant as ever. 

"No, seriously." Victoria insisted. "If I'd hit the floor I'd probably have gotten a bruise somewhere you  _ really  _ don't want one. So, you saved my ass. Literally."

At this, Kate surprised Victoria by giggling. "I guess that is kind of important." She admitted. 

"When your ass is as great as mine, definitely." Victoria stated, momentarily swept along by the sudden spirit of camaraderie that had manifested between them. 

Through their currently shared bond, Victoria felt Kate go through several emotions in the span of a microsecond: the envy was back, again mixed with a sense of admiration and the third emotion she still couldn’t quite place, but if Victoria had been forced to guess - now that she had felt it twice - she was leaning towards … guilt? 

“I’m just saying,” Victoria hastily added, “I’m pretty fit, that’s all.” 

She then felt Kate’s emotions subside, slowly replaced with the usual Jedi implacability. 

“Well,” Victoria gestured at the bar now residing on the floor, “Clearly working out isn’t going to be a thing.” 

“Agreed.” Kate nodded. She opened her mouth again but, curiously, hesitated for a second. “Would you, perhaps, join me in meditating instead?”

Victoria thought for a moment. What harm could it do?

“Sure.” She gave Kate a smile. “Why not?”

* * *

"This way." 

Juliet led Max and Chloe through street after busy street, heading in the general direction of one of seven massive supportive pillars that led up to the upper city. 

Juliet appeared to be highly knowledgeable of both the local area and the precise times and routes of security patrols. With her expertise, the three of them managed to avoid every single potential source of trouble - sometimes by a wide berth, sometimes by just a few meters, but always without incident.

As they neared one of the seven pillars, Juliet made a sudden turn down a narrow, dimly lit alleyway. Max followed without question, while Chloe followed a little more cautiously, her hand still hovering near her blaster.

“Wait.” Juliet held out a hand, signaling they should stop.

“What is it?” Max whispered. She looked around furtively, attempting to suss out anything that could be a threat. “More guards?”

“No…” Juliet shook her head. From the way her face was scrunching up, she looked as if she was grappling with some kind of dilemna. “It’s just, I keep thinking about what’s going to happen. I mean, you  _ do  _ want to kill Nathan, right?”

“Of course.” Chloe answered immediately.

Max remained silent.

Juliet’s mouth twitched, forming a hard line for a brief second. “I’m … I’m afraid killing him won’t do anything.”

“What, why?” Chloe asked incredulously. “He’s a total fucking psycho who gets off on causing misery to others, so if we kill him, that’s a net positive for literally everyone. Right?"

“That might not be the case.” Juliet sighed. “There’s his father, too.”

“Ah, shit.” Chloe cursed. “I forgot about him.”

“What’s wrong with his father?” Max asked. “You mentioned him before but, what’s specifically so bad about him?” 

Juliet thought for a moment. “If Nathan is a symptom, his father, Sha’in, is the cause, the disease. All of this?” She swept her arm around, indicating the undercity at large. “This is all him: the guards, the poverty, the corruption… He keeps everyone in the undercity downtrodden while him and his cronies live in luxury up above. If you kill Nathan, that won’t change the larger picture here. Sha’in will still be in charge. Hell, if Nathan dies, he might even take it out on the entire city as some kind of punishment.”

“She makes a good point,” Max said.

Chloe’s expression darkened in a vicious scowl. “We agreed that if Nathan isn’t stopped now -  _ permanently  _ \- he’ll only go on to hurt more innocents. We all know him. It’s an inevitability. As for the people here, their situation sucks, but ... I don’t think there’s anything we can do to change that, short of murdering the entire clan, and attempting a coup is  _ not  _ what I signed up for here.”

“You might not have to.” Juliet said, slowly, as if she was figuring out where her line of thinking was taking her as she was vocalising it.

“What do you mean?” Chloe asked.

“It’s … a secret, well, kind of an open secret if you ask anyone in the know, but, Nathan is not the only child of Sha’in. He has a sister, Kristine.”

“Oh great, another one to deal with.” Chloe rolled her eyes. 

“No, you don’t understand.” Juliet pressed on. “She cut ties with the clan years ago and moved off-planet. As I understand it, she hates her family.”

“If she hates her own family, how does that help at all?” Chloe pointed out.

“If we could convince her to come back, she could maybe, I don’t know, curb the worst of Sha’in’s tendencies. Deter him a little. Look, if there’s any chance she could make things better for the people here, we should take that chance. And from what I’ve discerned over the years, Nathan might even listen to her as well.”

“I agree with her.” Max said. “This could be a chance to change things for the better - without violence.”

Chloe stepped back and crossed her arms in a clear sign of disagreement. “Why do you care about making people’s lives better?” She pointedly asked Juliet. “I mean. You  _ work  _ for the clan.”

“Not out of choice.” Juliet shook her head bitterly. “Decades ago, my family was large enough and important enough that we held major influence in this city, alongside Clan Pris’kott. But over the years, through a combination of treachery, shady deals and ‘convenient’ deaths in my family, the Pris’kotts…  _ subsumed  _ us, and now, they essentially own us. From the moment I was born, I was expected to ‘serve’ the Pris’kotts in later life.”

“So you’re basically a slave?” Max said, sounding offended on Juliet’s behalf.

Juliet made a face, indicating Max’s assessment wasn’t quite accurate. “No, that’s not quite right. They do actually pay me, for one. It’s more like a … prisoners with jobs scenario.”

“Still, it’s awful, what happened to your family.” Max said sympathetically.

“It’s why, if I can help change things, I wanna take that shot.” Juliet emphasised.

“This sister of Nathan’s, Kristine … do you know where she went?” Max asked.

“No.” Juliet shook her head. “She never let anyone know - for good reason - and neither Sha’in or Nathan are telling.”

“Would it be worth looking in Sha’in’s office or something?”

Juliet frowned. “Maybe. It’s a small chance, but it’s the likeliest place I can think of.”

“I still think we should just kill Nathan and get the fuck out of here.” Chloe protested. “Changing the status quo here literally isn’t our job.”

Max closed her eyes and sighed. “One second.” She said to Juliet. “Chloe, come with me.” She took the pilot’s hand, and before she could protest, pulled her further down the alleyway.

“Chloe, remember what I said before all of this kicked off? That if I was going to take jobs, I wanted to help people?”

“...Yeah.” Chloe begrudgingly answered. “I think I know where this is going.”

_ “This  _ is helping people.” Max enthused. “We can make a real difference here, to so many. If we can find Kristine and convince her to come back, even if we still have to kill Nathan … I think I could live with that.”

Chloe sighed, and crossed her arms again.

“Please, Chloe. For me.” Max stepped in closer and wrapped herself around Chloe’s arm.

“... Damn it, fine.” Chloe growled. “But if I get a shot at Nathan, I’m still taking it.”

Max nodded. “Okay.”

They returned to Juliet, whose eyes darted between the ex-Jedi and the smuggler, waiting for their response.

“We’re in.” Max said. 

* * *

It took another ten minutes of walking, but eventually, Juliet led them to the base of the closest support pillar. Turbolifts were placed every fifty feet or so, forming a wide ring around the entire pillar. Two guards were posted at the base of each turbolift, decked out in Mandalorian armour and carrying heavy blasters.

Chloe raised her eyebrow. “That’s some serious firepower they’re packing.”

“It is.” Juliet agreed. “Which is why I should do the talking.”

She approached the turbolift directly in front of them, with Max and Chloe in tow. When they were a few feet away, one of the guards held out a hand, indicating they should stop.

“Authorization.” He said. 

Juliet opened her jacket, revealing the Clan Pris’kott insignia again. “Here.”

The guard unclipped a small handheld scanner from his belt and pointed it at the insignia. A blue, holographic line shot out and quickly took in every detail. A second later, it chirped.

“Ident chip matches.” The guard said. “Proceed.”

“Thank you.” Juliet dipped her head in acknowledgement, and began to walk into the turbolift. Max and Chloe made to follow her.

“Wait.” The guard said. “You two were  _ not  _ cleared. You are not authorised to enter.”

“Oh, they’re with me.” Juliet explained. “You can just let them -”

“Do they have ident chips?”

Juliet hesitated. “No, but-”

“Then they are not authorised to enter.”

“They don’t have ident chips because they’ve never been here before. I found them wandering the undercity, they’re looking to buy a new starship from one of the dealers on the upper plate, but were forced to enter via the lower level because they lacked the proper permits, so I offered to help. Honestly, it’s a miracle they weren’t immediately robbed and scammed by the riff-raff down here.”

The guard looked at his partner. “You believe this?”

His partner looked Max and Chloe up and down. “They don’t look like they can even afford a meal on the upper plate, let alone a starship.”

“We had a recent windfall.” Chloe interjected. “Rich uncle died, left me a ton of creds. You know how it is.” She said.

“It’s true.” Max said, coming in with a subtle wave of her hand. “We’re looking to buy a ship, and heard Ebon’Vella has some of the best available. You can advise us where to go.”

The two guards straightened up in a strangely robotic fashion. “Yes. You are looking to buy a ship. We will advise you. Tali's Cruisers is where you should go. It's our favourite store on the Citadel."

"Thank you, officer." Juliet nodded her head to accentuate her words, not that it mattered to the mind-tricked guards. 

The first guard waved them on. "Move along, move along."

They entered the turbo lift. As soon as it ascended, Juliet breathed a sigh of relief. "I can't believe that worked. What did you do to them?" She directed the question at Max. 

"Just gave them a mental push in the right direction." Max said, quietly smiling. 

As the turbolift made its way upwards, Max reflected on her new perception of the city. The view from the turbolift was spectacular, and became increasingly more so the higher they ascended, but with her new knowledge of how the people of the undercity were treated, that gorgeous view had become tainted in her mind. The undercity’s existence was now forever melded to the plight of the residents. 

She found herself hoping that, however their current mission went, she would be able to do as Juliet suggested and find Kristine. A Pris’kott who deliberately broke ties with her family had to be entirely different from the rest of them, right?

She continued mulling this train of thought for the entire ascent. There was no conversation between the three of them: Juliet appeared to be working through scenarios in her mind - judging from the dozens of micro facial expressions she went through - and Chloe was preoccupied with checking her blaster. 

After a minute or so, they arrived on the upper plate. The door to the turbolift whisked open, and the three of them stepped out.

The difference between the under and upper cities was immediately obvious. The upper city was far lighter, courtesy of natural sunlight streaming in from hundreds of reinforced skylights built into the structure of the dome. The streets were also much wider, giving the upper city a pleasant, open atmosphere. The square architecture was still present, but the various buildings and dwellings were made of obviously much more expensive material.

The clear signs of wealth also extended to the populace. Whereas residents of the undercity wore whatever it was they could afford, people lucky enough to live in the upper city were clad in a wide variety of expensive looking garb; ranging from elegant robes and dresses to fine pants and shirts - though, Max was pleased to observe, the choice of clothing did not appear to be restricted to gender. She saw as many outwardly male presenting species wearing clothing that would usually be deemed as feminine on Coruscant.

“Which way?” Chloe asked once they made their way out of the turbolift station and into the upper city proper.

Juliet simply pointed at the massive central spire of the Citadel.

“Oh. Right.” Chloe said, feeling dumb.

They set off once more, proceeding apace through the upper city towards the towering megalith that comprised the Pris’Kott Citadel. The streets sloped gently upwards as they walked, as the center of the city was maybe a hundred or so feet above the outskirts, much like an artificial, symmetrical mountain in shape. 

“We’ll go in via the service entrance.” Juliet said as they neared the central compound. “It’s usually just droids there, since it’s mostly manual labour required in that area, and no one really does anything like that up here”

“Classist fucks.” Chloe muttered. 

Max thought about her upbringing in the Jedi Temple, where most menial things were automated, such as the laundry removal service built into every single living chamber, and of the fleet of service droids that took care of Temple maintenance, and thought it would be wise to avoid commenting. Since leaving the Order, she had experienced many small moments that illustrated just how privileged her life with the Jedi had been, and how removed it was from how the vast majority of the rest of the Galaxy lived. Max welcomed each and every one of those moments, since, as far as she was concerned, having your perspectives challenged was a good thing, and could only lead to self improvement.

While Max let her train of thought run wild, the three of them drew steadily closer to the central compound, and a few minutes later, reached the outer walls. Juliet led them around to the left, walking for another few minutes around the walls until they came to the service entrance Juliet had mentioned earlier. 

True to her word, the only activity around the entrance was a horde of droids, whisking to and fro as they carried out their various tasks. 

“In here.” Juliet indicated a small door. A scanner was attached to the side. Once again, Juliet showed her clan insignia, and the door promptly whisked open. The trio entered, passing through to the other side of the wall. 

“It’s a straight shot from here.” Juliet explained in hushed tones. “We’ve avoided the main gate, and most of the guards, so getting into the Citadel itself is just a matter of walking in.” She pointed towards a discrete entrance built into the side of the Citadel itself. “That’s your way in, I usually use that door when I don’t want anyone to notice me leaving. I can let you in, but after that, I can’t help you.”

“What? Why not?” Chloe whisper-hissed. 

“Because the inside of the Citadel has cameras and sensors literally everywhere. If I’m seen with you, I’m dead. And besides, once you’re inside, you’ll only have a few minutes to do what you need to do. The insignia on our uniforms carries an identity chip inside, which the sensors inside the Citadel itself constantly scan. Anyone without an identity chip will be found by the guards within minutes, so again, I can’t go with you.”

“Can’t you lend us your insignia?” Max asked.

Juliet shook her head. “They’d know it was me. The chips contain the biometrics of whoever they’ve been issued to.”

“Well, shit.” Chloe swore. “We’ll have to get this done fast.”

“Yes.” Juliet agreed. “Nathan is usually sulking in his room, which is directly at the base of the tower. It’s not hard to find. Sha’in’s office is at the very top. The turbolift to get up there is to the left and down the corridor from Nathan’s room.”

Juliet stuck a hand out. “Good luck,” 

Max shook the proffered hand. “Thanks. We’ll probably need it.”

Chloe also shook Juliet’s hand, only somewhat begrudgingly. “What are you gonna do now?”

“Make sure I’m scarce. I absolutely cannot be seen or do anything that would link me to you.”

Chloe nodded. “Makes sense. Now go on, get out of here.”

Juliet made to leave, but after a second, turned back. “Wait, let me give you my commlink frequency. Just in case.”

“Good idea.” Max agreed. “Now you really should leave if you want to be safe.”

To Max’s surprise, Juliet lightly bowed. “Thank you, for everything. May the Force be with you.”

Max bowed back. “And also with you.”

Juliet nodded, and then she was gone.

Max turned to Chloe. “You ready?"

Chloe’s brows tightened in determination. “Yeah. Let’s do this.”

* * *

High above the unassuming beige ball that comprised Mandalore, a ship bearing the sigil of the Jedi Order dropped out of hyperspace. It turned on its axis, pointing itself at the planet below, though it made no move to begin its approach.

“Here we are.” Kate declared. “Mandalore.”

“Finally.” Victoria muttered. “Can you still sense her?”

Kate closed her eyes, but only for a moment, as Max’s Force signature was so strong she didn’t even need to fully open herself up to the Force.

“Yes.” Kate said. “Though she’s on the other side of the planet.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Victoria gestured to the planet beneath them. “Take us in.”

* * *

Juliet had been right.

As soon as Max and Chloe entered the Citadel itself, a local sensor network picked them up, and an insistent alarm began chiming throughout the entire structure. 

Chloe fixed Max with a steely look, and said only one word.

“Hurry.”

As one, they took off at a run, heading in the direction of the centre of the Citadel, and therefore Nathan’s room - and the central turbolift.

Miraculously - or perhaps due to the will of the Force - they only encountered one guard as they ran, whom Max promptly knocked out by slamming him into a wall with a shove of the Force. He crumpled to the floor, eyes upturned and jaw slack from the force of the blow.

“How long did Juliet say we had?” Chloe asked, a little breathlessly, as they ran.

“Just a few minutes.” Max answered. 

“Shit. That’s no time at all.”

“Nope.”

They rounded a corner, and headed down an extremely opulent and richly decorated hall. As they passed one of the doors, Max froze, her heart suddenly thudding violently. 

Chloe also skidded to a stop, having almost missed Max’s sudden cessation of movement.

“What’s wrong? You feel something?” She asked Max, concerned.

“That’s his room.” Max said. “There’s so much anger inside there, Chloe. Anger and pain.” 

“Not enough pain if you ask me.” Chloe growled. “Let’s ice this fucker.”

Before Max could suggest proceeding cautiously, Chloe levelled her blaster at the door controls and fired. The tiny console erupted into sparks and molten electronics. The door itself promptly slid open.

Chloe wasted no time, and charged straight in, with Max hot on her heels.

“Time to meet your maker, you son of a bitch!” Chloe yelled as she entered the room. 

Max said nothing, instead choosing to simply ignite her lightsaber. 

Only, she needn’t have bothered.

The room was empty.

“What the fuck?” Chloe exclaimed. Angrily, she swept the room and en-suite bathroom, only to find no trace of Nathan. “Where the hell is he?”

“I don’t know.” Max said, knowing it wouldn’t satisfy her.

“I thought you said you sensed him?” Chloe demanded.

“I said I sensed anger.” Max corrected her. “The strength of it must have masked his lack of physical presence.”

“Well that’s just fucking peachy.” Chloe complained. “We’re running out of time, here.”

“I know!” Max answered, frustrated. 

Chloe crossed her arms. “What do we do now?”

“Juliet said if he wasn’t in his room, the office at the top of the spire was our best bet.” Max recalled.

“Fine. Then we go there, and if he isn’t there, I’mma tear this place apart until I find him.”

“Chloe-” Max began.

_ “What,  _ Max?” Chloe turned on her, arms held wide in the most confrontational body language Chloe could muster.

“... Nothing, let’s just go.” Max capitulated, and strode out of the room.

“That’s what I thought.” Chloe muttered. She went to follow Max, but before leaving the room, aimed her blaster at Nathan’s bed and shot both of the luxurious, expensive pillows, as well as the bedsheets.

“You know that doesn’t do any good, right?” Max pointed out once Chloe joined her in the hallway.

“Does me.” Chloe rebutted her. 

“By the Force you’re impossible sometimes.” Max said, more to herself than anything.

Chloe chose not to respond to Max’s remark, and instead stalked down the hall. “The turbolift is this way, right?”

“...Yeah.” Max sighed, and followed her.

Traversing the final stretch to the turbolift was, unfortunately, not as successful as their initial infiltration. As they neared the end of the hall, an aide spotted them. A look of shock crossed his face, before he gathered his wits and began to yell into a commlink “They’re here! I’ve found-!”

“Damn it!” Chloe growled. Quick as a flash, she rushed the aide, and struck him hard in the face with her mechanical arm. A sickening  _ crack  _ could be heard as Chloe’s fist collided with his face, breaking his nose and cracking the lower part of his left eye socket. He dropped to the floor, moaning in pain. 

Max extended a hand, and with a suggestion of the Force, sent the aide into unconsciousness. She couldn’t do much about his broken bones, but at least he wouldn’t feel any pain until medical assistance arrived.

“Think anyone heard him?” Chloe nudged his leg with her foot.

“Maybe?” Max said. “But I don’t think it matters. They’ll inevitably find us in the next couple of minutes.”

“Turbolift?”

Max nodded. “Turbolift.”

* * *

The journey upward was swift and silent, as neither woman chose to speak. Max was running through permutations of what might unfold in the next few minutes, while Chloe was, well, Max didn’t know  _ what  _ her partner was thinking. She glanced over a couple of times, but Chloe’s expression was unreadable aside from steely determination, and a muscle that occasionally twitched in her clenched jaw. 

However, as they neared the top, Chloe spoke.

“I can’t let him live, Max. I just can’t.”

Max didn’t bother arguing. Chloe’s mind was made up. 

She just hoped Chloe would still be onboard with finding Nathan’s sister, and possibly finding a non-violent solution to the mess they had found themselves in.

The turbolift slowed to a graceful stop as it arrived at its ultimate destination. Moments before the doors opened, Max reached out, attempting to glean some kind of clue as to what they might be in for. All she felt was a suffocating miasma of negative emotions that swirled through the Citadel’s peak. 

What she didn’t feel was lifeforms. 

Before she could inform Chloe of her findings, the doors to the turbolift slid quietly open. Chloe wasted no time, and hurtled out into the space preceding Shai’in’s office. 

“Chloe…!” Max said, but there was no stopping the determined pilot. Max sighed, and followed, giving herself a small boost of speed with the Force in order to catch up with her errant partner.

Chloe ran past an ornate reception desk - which was clearly where Juliet usually worked - and burst through the heavy office doors bearing the Pris’kott clan insignia.

“What the…” Chloe said, 

“I know.” Max said, having caught up. “It’s empty.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Chloe swore. “How do they keep doing this?”

“Sha’in probably made his way to a safe room the second we tripped the sensors.” Max reasoned. 

“I -” Chloe started to protest. “... Fuck, you’re probably right.” 

“We should still look around. It’s the only chance we’re gonna get.” Max pointed out.

“Fine.” Chloe agreed, but crossed her arms and pouted like a moody teenager.

Ignoring her, Max proceeded further into the room. The Force was whispering to her, prodding her, telling her there was something that would help her, something very close …  _ the desk!  _

“Chloe, over here.” Max beckoned. 

“What is it?” 

“I don’t know yet, but the Force is telling me whatever we’re looking for has something to do with this desk.” 

“Something?” Chloe raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. I don’t know what. It’s not like the Force can actually talk.”

“Well, whatever it is, it’s probably on the console.” Chloe reasoned. She hopped over the desk - almost knocking a shiny model of the Pris’kott bird of prey off in the process - and planted herself in the expensive, comfortable chair resting behind the desk. She tapped a few things on the screen, then, seemingly out of nowhere, cursed violently.

“Fucking thing has a biometric lock. I can’t access anything.” Chloe lamented.

“Can you slice it?” Max suggested.

“No. I can do some basic slicing, but biometric locks are way above my skill level. This would’ve been Ren’s area, and even then, he might not have been able to do it.”

“Shit.” Max joined in with Chloe’s cursing. “Is there anything else-” She stiffened, cutting herself off mid sentence. The turbolift - which had gone back to the ground floor - was ascending again, this time carrying a bunch of life forms. “We’re gonna have company, in maybe a minute, at most.”

“Blast it!” Chloe frantically looked around the desk for anything that might help. The console itself was just a screen, held above the surface of the desk by a metal stand, which protruded directly out of the desk itself. Chloe narrowed her eyes. Maybe if…

With her mechanical hand, she slammed her fingers into the wooden surface, splintering it. She did it again, this time breaking the wood enough to get a handhold on it. With a grunt and tremendous application of force, she tore a large section completely off. She tossed it aside, staring down at the metal casing she had just exposed.

“You got something?” Max asked, positioning herself in front of the desk in a defensive stance.

Chloe didn’t answer just yet. She gripped a corner of the casing - although it was metal, it was far lighter and less durable than the wood of the desk - and pulled. The casing popped open with minimal effort, exposing complicated electronics within. She scanned the interior, very much aware she most likely only had seconds left, desperately searching for -

“Aha!” She exclaimed. 

Max turned to look, and saw Chloe triumphantly holding up some kind of electronic part.

“Data drive.” Chloe explained. “This little sucker will have everything stored on that console on it.” 

“Excellent.” Max enthused. “Let’s get back to-”

Before Max could finish her sentence, the doors to the office burst open, and in rushed eight heavily armed Mandalorian guards, led by an extremely familiar figure in blood red armour. 

“Should’ve fucking figured it was you two.” Nathan snarled, his anger clearly showing through even from under the cover of his helmet. He levelled his blaster at them. His squadmates did the same.

At the sight of him, Chloe’s expression transformed into one of pure rage. “You’re gonna die.” She said. Her voice was low, seething with anger like a sea being churned by a great storm.

“Yeah, sure I am.” Nathan scoffed. “I don’t know if you noticed, but we have you outnumbered.”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re still gonna die.” Chloe growled. She pointed her blaster at Nathan.

_ Snap-hiss.  _ Max ignited her lightsaber - a pillar of glorious blue fire that contained the potential to end engagements in so many different ways, as was befitting its actual status as a tool, not a weapon. Weapons only had a single purpose: to cause harm. Lightsabers could end conflicts without even resorting to violence if you used them right. 

It was with this in mind that Max brought it to bear, holding the ‘saber in a defensive stance, but still emphasising the deadly potential the looped blade of plasma contained, in the hope that the mere act of igniting it would de-escalate the situation.

Not a single person lowered their weapons.

_ Damn.  _ Max thought. Maybe words would do instead. “Nathan, Chloe.” She said slowly, cautiously. “We can end this here and now, without-”

Chloe fired four quick shots, directly at Nathan. Every one of them hit, but his armour deflected the blasts - it no doubt had a high concentration of beskar in its material makeup. Nathan staggered a little, but was otherwise completely unaffected.

“Fire.” He commanded, and aimed his blaster at Chloe.

In the second before Nathan and his guards fired, Max reached into the Force. She could feel it swirling around every living being in the room, moving darkly around Nathan and his guards, as it often did around a being that was about to act with the intention of killing. She focused on the darkest points; their weapons, and willed the Force to remove them from their owners’ grasps.

Nine blasters flew out of nine pairs of hands. With a deft swing of her lightsaber, Max cut them all in two.

Maybe now they could-

As one, the Mandalorians - and Nathan - lifted their left arms. Roaring, angry fire erupted from wrist-mounted flamethrowers, converging directly on Max and Chloe. In a surprisingly fast show of reflexes, Chloe ducked behind the desk, hoping it would protect her from the worst of the flames.

Max had no such cover. She flung both hands out, willing the Force to create a shield between her and the flames before they reduced her to nothing but ash. Milliseconds later, the jets of fire hit an invisible barrier, curving around it in a savage, beautiful, fiery red corona.

Max gritted her teeth from the effort. The streams of flame were powerful, much more than she thought they would have been, and the effort of holding them back was increasing by the second. She needed a way out, and she needed it now.

With a yell that left her throat raw, and a titanic effort, Max pushed, turning the deadly assault into a vicious backdraft. The flames exploded backwards, blowing each and every Mandalorian off their feet. A couple of them screamed, but Max knew they would be fine; their armour was too dense for them to worry about something as simple as a little bit of fire. 

More importantly, her actions had cleared a path back towards the turbolift. 

"Chloe, run!" She shouted. 

Chloe initially obeyed, but when she saw Nathan lying on the floor, seemingly helpless, she hesitated. 

"Chloe!" Max pressed. 

"But-" 

"NOW!" Max insisted. 

With a visible effort, Chloe tore herself away, and followed Max into the turbolift. The doors closed just in time - Nathan had picked himself back up and was making his way towards them, along with the majority of his guard squad. Fortunately, the turbolift did its job, and sped them swiftly downwards.

“Fuck!” Chloe swore. “He was  _ right there,  _ Max! I could’ve ended this whole thing!”

“And you would’ve died.” Max said. “I can’t defend you from that many Mandalorians at once, not for longer than I already did.”

“You don’t know that.” 

“Yes. I do.” Max said. “They’ve gone to war with the Jedi in the past, and killed hundreds of them. If they can kill Jedi, they can kill you.”

Chloe scowled, knowing Max was right.

“I know, but, one blaster shot under the helmet and-”

The turbolift slammed to a stop, throwing both of them to the floor in a pile of limbs.

“Ow.” Max groaned as she pushed herself into a sitting position. 

“Agreed,” Chloe rubbed her butt, where she’d landed exceptionally hard. “Ow.”

“Why did we stop?” Max looked around the turbolift, searching for any visible signs.

“They know we’re in here, Max. And it’s not hard to stop a turbolift from any kind of central control thing.”

“Oh.”

“And now we’re trapped.” Chloe sighed. “Any ideas?”

“I mean.” Max twirled her lightsaber hilt. “Maybe a couple.”

Once again, she ignited it, and then plunged the blade into the floor. Then, she swept the blade in a circle, cutting a wide circle straight through the bottom of the turbolift. The circular piece Max had cut out fell away, exposing a dark shaft below.

“You ready?” Max asked, stowing the lightsaber inside her jacket.

“No, but let’s do this thing anyway.” Chloe answered.

Without any further conversation, Max jumped through the hole. Chloe sighed, and followed suit.

They fell, swiftly picking up momentum. For Max, this was a regular thing, and a sensation she was used to. During her training, jumping off tall things and falling from great heights had been something she had experienced many times.

Chloe, however, didn’t have such training. Her stomach immediately rose into her throat, and had she not been under the influence of gravity, Chloe suspected she may have thrown up.

Thankfully, the fall was a relatively short one, less than a minute in total. As they neared the bottom, Max reached into the Force, and asked it to help slow them. It did, and they floated gracefully to a stop at the bottom of the turbolift shaft.

“I am  _ not  _ doing that again.” Chloe declared. “Falling sucks.”

“You get used to it.” Max said. Out came the lightsaber again, this time so Max could use it to cut through the shaft and into the ground floor hallway.

“Yeah, no. That ain’t happening.” Chloe grumbled.

Upon emerging into the hall, the two women were surprised to find it still empty. Even the unconscious aide was still lying on the floor - though a dark, angry bruise was quickly forming over his nose, left cheek and eye socket.

“Huh. Thought it would’ve been crawling with Mandos by now.” Chloe observed.

Immediately after she shut her mouth, dozens of footsteps could be heard racing down the corridors on both their left and right.

“Run?” Chloe suggested.

“Run.” Max agreed.

They ran.

  
  


* * *

“Keep going!” Max yelled.

“Don’t. Need. To tell me. Twice.” Chloe forced out in-between breaths. 

Laser fire flashed past their heads, with a few of the blasts coming alarmingly close. Max deflected what she could, but aiming blaster bolts back at their pursuers while sprinting at full speed away from them was something that eluded even Force-assisted actions - it was all Max could do to not get them killed.

They rounded a corner, heading for the same side entrance they had entered by, only, as soon as the familiar hallway came into view, they found yet another squad awaiting them.

“Back! Back!” Max frantically yelped, even as she deflected a salvo of blaster fire that came sailing their way.

As one, they turned on their heels, sprinting in the opposite direction. 

“Main entrance?” Chloe suggested, rather breathlessly.

“I don’t think we have a choice.” Max answered grimly.

Together, they made for the central hallway, which led out to the main entryway. Thankfully, it was unguarded - apparently every single guard in the place was now chasing them.

As they neared it, Max desperately waved a hand - waiting for the doors to open once they got there was time they did  _ not  _ currently have. Thankfully, the internal mechanisms saw fit to obey her, and the two ornate, heavy doors swung slowly open.

They emerged into a wide courtyard, around fifty feet in diameter, and surrounded by thick walls on all sides, except for a set of heavy, thick main gates that led out into the upper city, which another guard squad had set up a makeshift blockade in front of. 

Laser fire lanced out from the blockade, forcing Max to stop and drop into a purely defensive stance, while Chloe dove behind a large statue of yet another undoubtedly incredibly violent Mandalorian warlord.

“What do we do?” Max shouted over the barrage of blaster fire.

"Give me a second!" Chloe yelled back. She leaned partially out of cover and shot twice. The first shot missed, but the second hit a Mandalorian in the neck, in the gap between his helmet and breastplate. He collapsed, smoke pouring from a hole in his throat. 

Her target dispatched, Chloe swept her gaze over the courtyard, searching for something, anything that would give them a way out. After a few seconds, she found it.

“Max! Go for that speeder!” She pointed at a sleek, fast-looking speeder parked on the other side of the courtyard.

“You go, I’ll cover you.” Max nodded. “On three: one, two, three!”

Chloe burst out from cover, immediately ramping up to a dead sprint across the courtyard. Max followed, deflecting laser blasts as best she could, while silently praying the ones she couldn’t deflect wouldn’t hit Chloe.

Thankfully, they somehow made it to the speeder without being shot - something Max privately attributed to the will of the Force.

“Get it started.” Max said to Chloe. “I’ll keep them off your back.” She twirled her lightsaber, batting back another salvo of blaster bolts at the Mandalorian guards.

“On it.” Chloe nodded. “I’ll only need a few-”

“Get the  _ fuck  _ away from my speeder!” An angry, intense, regrettably familiar voice sounded.

_ Oh no.  _ Max thought.

Chloe whipped round to face the voice. 

When she saw who it was, Max was dismayed to see the vengeful snarl reform on her face.

“I said get  _ away  _ from it!” Nathan screeched. He lifted a heavy duty blaster rifle he’d accrued from somewhere, and began firing as fast as he could pull the trigger. 

Max leapt in front of Chloe, frantically deflecting Nathan’s shots. 

Chloe didn’t seem to notice. She seemed transfixed, unable to take her eyes off Nathan. Then, in a flash, she raised her own blaster, and returned fire. 

He dove for cover, fetching up behind a few stacked crates. 

Chloe blindly advanced, continually firing, heedless of the laser fire still arching her way.

“Chloe!” Max screamed. “Come back!”

If Chloe could hear her, she was ignoring her partner. 

“Chloe!” Max screamed again. The Mandalorian guards, seeing her momentarily distracted, concentrated fire on her, forcing her back towards the speeder.

And still, Chloe advanced, step by step. 

Max tried her utmost to get to her, but the torrent of blaster fire proved impossible to push through. She could only defend herself, and that was becoming more difficult by the -

A single blaster bolt tore through her defenses, burning across the muscle of her left bicep, leaving a searing gash.

“AGH!” Max cried out.

At the sound of her partner in pain, Chloe snapped out of her finally turned round, and saw Max being forced back, wielding her lightsaber with only one hand, while shielding her injured arm from further shots.

“No!” Chloe exclaimed, and ran back towards Max, while laying down a vicious hail of suppressing fire at the guards targeting her. They scrambled for cover, creating a temporary lull in the otherwise constant barrage of laser blasts. 

“Max!” Chloe reached her. “You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine.” Max said while grimacing. 

“No you’re not.” Chloe insisted.

“Can we just get out of here?!” Max pleaded.

Chloe nodded. “Get in.” She said.

Together, they vaulted into the speeder. Chloe engaged the power, and the thing roared to life. The pilot wasted no time and cranked the repulsorlifts to full, yanking the speeder hard into the air.

“No!” Nathan yelled from down on the ground. “Get after them!” He pointed to the closest two squads. They obeyed, racing towards a nearby rack of rocket packs.

“Shit.” Chloe swore, looking down at the dozen or so that were currently equipping said rocket packs. “We’re gonna have company.”

Max looked over, seeing the same thing. “No, we’re not.” She said, and with the Force, activated one of the rocket packs’ missiles.

A gigantic explosion went off, killing several of the squads and blowing the rest of the men on the ground off their feet, including Nathan.

“Go!” Max exclaimed.

Chloe opened up the throttle to full, and the speeder shot out of the courtyard, heading straight for one of the skylights. 

“Max,” Chloe pointed towards the skylight, “Can you?”

Hesitantly, Max nodded. She extended her arms, wincing slightly as the gash in her left arm flared in pain. Then, she felt the Force flow through her, focusing her senses, dulling the pain and making her feel like anything was possible. 

Max pushed.

The skylight exploded outwards in millions of shards of hardened transparisteel. Seconds later, the speeder shot through it.

As soon as they were out, Chloe banked, turning them in the direction of the  _ Amber Star _ .

“Back to the ship?” She said.

“Yes.” Max nodded. “We need to rethink things. Badly.”

Chloe didn’t answer. She looked over at Max, who was back to wincing and holding her arm.

“We should see to your arm.” She said, feeling a pang of guilt flash through her. “Check under the bulkhead there, speeders like this usually have a first aid kit.”

Max did so, and sure enough, found some medical supplies, including a medifoam injector. Hastily, Max applied it to her arm, and exhaled in relief as the painkillers contained in the foam took effect.

No further conversation was had as the speeder travelled on towards where the  _ Amber Star  _ was resting. Both occupants of the speeder were too busy processing the events that had transpired in the last few hours.

“I don’t-” Chloe began to say. “I shouldn’t have-”

“Wait.” Max interrupted her. “Look.” She pointed at the  _ Amber Star _ , which was now but a few hundred feet away.

Chloe followed her finger. Two figures, humanoid, were visible just outside the ship. 

“What the hell.” Chloe growled. 

Max reached out with the Force, attempting to ascertain whether the figures were friend or foe. As her mental reach extended to the two figures, she gasped. The Force flowed strongly between them, in a blazing, swirling current of Light. Light that strong could only mean one thing.

Jedi.

“Max? What is it? Who are they?” Chloe pressed.

“They’re - they’re Jedi.” Max said.

Chloe’s brows furrowed. “Is that - why are they here?”

Max’s expression was a reflection of Chloe’s own. “I guess we’ll find out.”

Chloe brought the speeder in for landing, a hundred or so feet from the  _ Amber Star _ . Once it was on the ground, the two of them disembarked, cautiously making their way towards the two Jedi waiting outside the ship.

As they drew closer, Max gasped for a second time. She knew them, both of them. 

One was Kate, a Jedi she had never really spoken to, but had heard many good things about.

The other Jedi was-

“Hello, Max.” Victoria said. “You have a lot to answer for.”

And the Jedi drew her lightsaber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, what would a huge chapter be without a cliffhanger? 
> 
> Hopefully you guys enjoyed reading that. Haven't got too much to say (because writing and editing this thing was a lot and I'm pretty fuckin' tired now), other than I've missed writing action sequences *so much*, you guys. I also tried stepping up the description in said action scenes, as I read Charles Soule's Light of the Jedi this month and holy shit did I feel outclassed by him, so I felt I had to up my game. Though of course, you can be the judge as to whether I was successful.
> 
> See you all next time, where things are gonna get even more intense. MTFBHWY.


End file.
